Damascus Court Launches Public Trial of Former Assad Officials, Including Brigadier General Atef Najib

A Syrian court in Damascus opened the first public trial of officials linked to former President Bashar Assad's rule on April 26, 2026, with a former army brigadier general appearing in person to face charges related to crimes against the Syrian people.

The defendant, who headed the political security branch in southern Syria's Daraa province in 2011, stood in the dock in handcuffs during the preparatory session. He was the only defendant present, as Assad, his brother Maher—former commander of the Syrian military's 4th Armored Division—and several other high-ranking former security officials were charged in absentia after fleeing the country.

"Today we begin the first trials of transitional justice in Syria," the judge declared as he opened the session. The charges stem from events in 2011, when teenagers in Daraa who scrawled antigovernment graffiti on a school wall were arrested and tortured.

That incident became a catalyst for mass protests against the repressive policies of Assad's security forces. The protests were met by a brutal government crackdown and spiraled into a civil war that ended with Assad's ouster in December 2024 in a lightning rebel offensive. Assad fled to Russia, and most of his inner circle escaped Syria.

Crowds gathered outside the courthouse in Damascus to celebrate the trial's opening. One of the plaintiffs said his brother was killed when security forces opened fire on protesters at Daraa’s Omari Mosque. “He was a civilian and peaceful, but the former security chief greeted peaceful [protesters] with gunfire,” the plaintiff said.

Authorities arrested the defendant shortly after the collapse of the Assad government. A second hearing in the trial is scheduled for next month.