The trials of prominent figures from the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are set to begin Sunday, a justice ministry official told AFP on Saturday, starting with a former security official.
–
Najib is the former head of political security in south Syria’s Daraa province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising, and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. He is also a cousin of the ousted leader.
The ministry official said trials would follow for Wassim al-Assad — another of the former president’s cousins — and Amjad Youssef, the main suspect in a 2013 massacre who was arrested this week, as well as “pilots who took part in bombing Syrian cities and towns.”
Syria’s civil war began with a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests and spiralled into a 13-year conflict that killed more than half a million people.
Assad’s forces pounded rebel-held areas, including with airstrikes and crude barrel bomb attacks, while tens of thousands of people disappeared, some into the country’s brutal prison system.
Next Sunday marks the start of the public trial of Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and former security chief in Daraa, who led the 2011 crackdown on peaceful protesters that catalyzed 14 years of brutal repression.
This marks a critical step towards justice and accountability for… pic.twitter.com/wZYrAAzNRo
— Syrian Emergency Task Force (@syrianetf) April 24, 2026
Since seizing power in December 2024, Syria’s new authorities have repeatedly announced the arrests of former officials, vowing to provide justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities.
Assad fled to Russia with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom reportedly went abroad or took refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad’s Alawite minority.
Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais said Friday on X that the Damascus criminal court was ready “for the moment that victims have long waited for: the start of public trials,” calling them “part of the transitional justice process.”
Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasized the importance of transitional justice in the war-ravaged country.
