Fakhr al-Din al-Erian…the dissident judge who returned to Damascus to try al-Assad and his men news

Counselor Fakhr al-Din al-Erian topped the judicial and political scene in Syria, after he chaired the first “transitional justice” sessions in Damascus.

The irony in this trial was not limited to the symbols of the former regime standing in the dock – led by security official Atef Najib in presence and the ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher in absentia – but rather extended to include the judge himself.

The man who sits today on the bench to try these people was yesterday a dissident judge, who was sentenced to death in absentia and whose property was confiscated.

From the terraces of Aleppo to the courts of Idlib

Al-Erian comes from the town of Salqin in the Idlib countryside. He studied law at the University of Aleppo in 1988, before beginning his career within state institutions and moving up the judicial corps, until he reached the position of advisor in the Civil Court of Appeal in Idlib.

With the escalation of Syrian revolution protests and the increasing resort to a security solution, Al-Erian decided his position early. On March 13, 2013, he appeared in a video recording to announce his departure from the regime’s institutions.

Al-Erian said in his recording: “In view of the responsibility placed on the shoulders of judges who are the protectors of justice and truth, and as a result of the mass massacres committed by the regime against civilians, children and women, and in view of these circumstances and our loyalty to the homeland and our oath, I, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Arian – advisor to the Civil Court of Appeal in Idlib, announce my defection from the Ministry of Justice, and my joining the Independent Syrian Judicial Council, to be with my colleagues who are members of this council a fortified shield for justice and equality. And long live a free Syria. “Abiya.”

After his defection, he moved to work within the Ministry of Justice in the Syrian Interim Government, and during that stage his name was associated with the establishment of a “parallel judicial track” that arose outside the structure of the ousted regime.

Al-Erian worked to build alternative courts in opposition areas, manage judicial files, and document the crimes of the ousted regime. In return, the regime responded by issuing harsh sentences against him in absentia, which included sentencing him to death, confiscating his property and selling some of it at public auctions.

Return to Damascus

With the fall of the regime and the change in the Syrian scene, Al-Erian’s name returned to the forefront in June 2025, following the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 70, which stipulated the cancellation of dismissal decrees and legal rulings against a number of judges and their return to their work.

This path culminated in his appointment – last January – as President of the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, as part of the steps to reshape the judicial authority.

Trial platform and the legacy of the missing

In the first transitional justice session, Al-Erian sat on the podium, and in front of him stood the former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa – who was arrested in January 2025 – handcuffed.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the trial in absentia allowed the court to begin prosecution procedures for Bashar and Maher al-Assad.

Al-Erian began the session by saying: “Today we begin the first transitional justice trials in Syria… [التي] It includes an accused who has been arrested and is in the dock, and it includes defendants fleeing from justice.”

Before the start of the session, Al-Erian sent – via his Facebook account – a message to the Syrians, in which he wrote: “With God’s help, the first steps of justice begin today in confronting those who made the Syrians suffer the scourge of murder, torture, and oppression.”

He added, “For every mother of a martyr, for every mother of a detainee, for every family that was forcibly displaced, for every owner of a destroyed home, for our generous camp residents, for every young man and woman who dropped out of school after criminals destroyed their schools, cities and dreams, to every one who took up arms defending honor and the land and became a beautiful martyr. Your voice is present before the judiciary today, and your rights will not be forgotten.”

Today, Fakhr al-Din al-Erian’s position bears a prominent significance in the Syrian scene, as it combines the experience of a judge who knew state institutions from the inside, then led a parallel judicial path in the opposition, to finally return and preside over the first trials that open the files of the era of the previous regime.

This comes at a moment when Syria is trying to deal with a heavy legacy of missing persons, detainees, and mass graves, which are the files that constitute the deepest background for the first transitional justice path that Al-Erian is heading.