A relative of fallen Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad has turn out to be the primary official linked to the regime to go on trial.
Atef Najib, a cousin of the deposed chief, appeared impassive as he was paraded in a cage sporting a striped jail uniform as he goes on trial accused of mass shootings and torturing kids.
Assad, who fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on the capital, and his brother Maher will probably be tried in absentia.
Najib, whose head is shaved, was seen perching on the nook of a wood bench as hordes of individuals movie and take photos of him by way of the metallic bars on the Central Palace of Justice, in Damascus.
He was a former brigadier-general and head of political safety within the southern province of Daraa, the place uprisings towards the oppressive regime first erupted in 2011.
In February that yr, he ordered the arrest of perpetrators who graffitied partitions within the metropolis of Daraa, calling for the tip of the regime.
Police apprehended two teenage boys after they discovered their names scribbled subsequent to offending graffiti, which was sprayed on a wall exterior their faculty.
The youngsters had been tortured and overwhelmed whereas imprisoned, till the precise culprits, aged between 18 and 30, confessed.
The therapy of the college boys, below Najib’s command, catalysed additional demonstrations, resulting in police firing on protestors in March 18 and killing a number of individuals.
Atef Najib, sporting a striped jail uniform, sat seemingly impassive on Sunday in a cage in a courtroom in Central Palace of Justice, in Syria’s capital, Damascus
The disgraced official, whose head is shaved and fingers are handcuffed, perched on the nook of a wood bench as hordes of individuals filmed and took photos of him by way of the metallic bars
Fallen dictator Bashar Al-Assad, who fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on the capital, and his brother Maher will probably be tried in absentia
In April 2011, a separate teenage boy referred to as Hamza al-Khateeb vanished after a protest. The physique of the 13-year-old boy was returned to his dad and mom closely mutilated.
Najib was faraway from his function by Assad, branded the ‘Butcher’ for killing his personal individuals, after the atrocities. Nonetheless, he was reinstated in the identical function within the northwest Idlib province.
The crack down by safety forces on peaceable pro-democracy protests sparked the civil struggle, which killed greater than half 1,000,000 individuals and displaced thousands and thousands of others.
Because the civil struggle progressed by way of its 13 years, Najib was more and more sidelined by the regime.
He stayed in Damascus after Assad fled the nation in December 2024, following the toppling of the federal government by rebels, and was arrested in January 2025.
The trial of Najib, 65, falls right into a motion by Syria’s present authorities, below the brand new authorities of President al-Sharaa, to carry the Assad regime’s worst offenders to justice.
Assad was granted asylum by Vladimir Putin, after a lightning offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in December introduced a 13-year civil struggle to an finish, in addition to six a long time of the Assad household’s autocratic rule.
Najib was a former brigadier-general and head of political safety within the southern province of Daraa, the place uprisings towards the oppressive regime first erupted in 2011
Assad was granted asylum by Vladimir Putin Pictured: Assad met with Putin throughout a go to to Moscow in 2017, whereas he was president of Syria
Assad is needed on prices of premeditated homicide, torture and incitement to civil struggle.
Opening Najib’s trial, decide Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan mentioned: ‘Right this moment we start the primary trials of transitional justice in Syria.
‘This features a defendant in custody, current within the dock, in addition to defendants who’ve fled justice.’
A judicial supply, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned the proceedings marked the start of preparations for the trials of Assad, his brother and different distinguished figures like Najib.
On Friday, Amjed Youssef, who is needed for the mass killing of civilians in April 2013, was arrested after being discovered hiding in a village within the Hama province.
Footage emerged in 2022 displaying Syrian troopers guiding victims, who had been blindfolded and certain, to a pit earlier than capturing them. Youssef was filmed commanding the, what’s now often known as, Tadamon bloodbath.
Najib and his mom Fatima Makhlouf, the sister of Assad’s mom Anisa Makhlouf, rose to energy purely due to Assad’s place.
The Makhlouf’s quickly turned Syria’s richest household, with a powerful maintain over its funds and the state information organisations.
The trial of Najib will proceed on Might 10.
The judicial supply mentioned in-person trials will embody Wassim al-Assad, one other relative of the ousted president, former grand mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, in addition to army and safety officers arrested by the brand new authorities in latest months.
Syria’s new authorities have repeatedly vowed to offer justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities.
