Published on 4/25/2026
Tomorrow, Sunday, the trial of prominent figures from the era of the ousted Syrian regime will begin in Syria after their arrest during the past months, starting with former security official Atef Najib.
On Thursday, Syrian Minister of Justice Mazhar Al-Wais inspected the Damascus Justice Court after the completion of part of the ongoing restoration work there, in preparation for the start of trials.
The Ministry of Justice stated on its channel on the Telegram application that Minister Alwais “reviewed the preparation of the fourth criminal courtroom, which will witness the start of the trial of symbols of the former regime, within the process of transitional justice,” according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA).
The Public Prosecution filed public lawsuits against a number of perpetrators of violations before the investigating judge, including Atef Najib, Ahmed Badr al-Din Hassoun, Muhammad al-Shaar, Ibrahim al-Hawija, and Wassim al-Assad, within the framework of a judicial process aimed at “holding accountable those responsible for crimes and serious violations against the Syrian people, and strengthening the principle of the rule of law and transitional justice,” according to the agency.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the aforementioned were charged with charges including premeditated murder, torture leading to death, assault aimed at provoking civil war, and incitement, participation, and interference in killing operations.
“A long-awaited moment”
Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais wrote in a post on X on Friday that the Criminal Court in Damascus “is preparing for the moment long awaited by the victims: the launch of public trials… of the cronies and criminals of the former regime, within the process of transitional justice.”
Activists, human rights organizations, and the international community stress the importance of achieving transitional justice in Syria after long years of war.
Who is Atef Naguib?
A source in the Ministry of Justice told Agence France-Presse that the first trial sessions will begin tomorrow, Sunday, with the trial session of Atef Naguib, who was arrested in January 2025.
Najib was a brigadier general in the Syrian security apparatus during the era of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. He is his cousin, and one of the security figures whose name was linked to the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011.
He was born in 1960, graduated from the Military College in Homs with the rank of lieutenant, then joined the intelligence service and held a number of security positions, most notably the head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa Governorate (2008-2011).
He became widely known in March 2011, when 15 children were arrested in the city of Daraa on charges of writing anti-regime slogans on the walls. This incident sparked widespread anger after he responded to the families’ demands to release their children with an insulting phrase, which was described as the first spark for the launch of the popular revolution against Assad.
He later faced several accusations of involvement in financial and administrative corruption cases, including illicit car trafficking, smuggling goods from Lebanon, and exploiting his position to blackmail merchants and businessmen.
Although Al-Assad announced the opening of an investigation into these violations, the investigations did not lead to significant results, and the procedures were limited to relieving him from his position in Daraa and transferring him to head the Political Security Branch in Idlib Governorate.
He was placed on the US sanctions list on April 29, 2011, and then on the European sanctions list on May 9 of the same year, on charges related to committing serious violations against civilians.
After the overthrow of the Assad regime at the beginning of December 2024, the new Syrian administration announced that security forces in Latakia arrested Najib on January 31, 2025, after he was hiding in the city’s countryside.
The source explained to the French Agency that Najib’s trial “will be followed successively by the trial of Wassim al-Assad,” who is also a relative of the ousted president, “and pilots who participated in bombing Syrian cities and towns” during the revolution, in addition to Amjad Youssef, who was arrested by the authorities yesterday, Friday, and who is the main accused of committing a massacre in the Tadamon neighborhood in Damascus in 2013, in which dozens of people were killed.
From time to time, the Syrian authorities announce the arrest of military and security officials from the previous regime, who were involved in committing atrocities and crimes against Syrians during the years of the revolution.
The fate of tens of thousands of missing and detainees in Syria, and the mass graves in which the former regime is believed to have buried detainees who died under torture, constitute one of the most prominent aspects of the Syrian tragedy after a conflict that caused the death of more than half a million people.
On his escape to Moscow on December 8, 2024, following the arrival of the opposition factions in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad took with him only a few people close to him, abandoning his aides and senior officers, a number of whom took refuge in neighboring countries, while other officials took refuge in their towns and villages, according to what some of them reported.
