Atif Najib Faces Trial in Damascus Over Murder, Torture, and Massacres Under Bashar al-Assad

A public trial has begun in Damascus for Atif Najib, the former head of security in Daraa under Bashar al-Assad’s regime, who is facing charges of murder, torture, and orchestrating massacres.

“The Syrian Network for Human Rights revealed, on Thursday, legislative gaps related to trial procedures and the indictment against Brigadier General Atef Najib, the former head of the Political Security branch in Daraa”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Economist reported that Najib, a cousin of Assad, was arrested in a January 2025 raid and is now in the defendant’s box in a court in Damascus wearing a white-and-black prison uniform, while Maram Abazid—who witnessed the arrest of her friends in Daraa in 2011—said, 'We have waited for this moment since the start of the revolution.'

Al-Jazeera Net

The Economist said the prosecution read out the names of Najib’s victims during a preliminary hearing on April 26, and on May 10 Najib denied all charges and blamed other Syrian security agencies for the crackdown in Daraa.

The Economist also described the trial as the first trial of Assad-era officials in Syria, with the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice relying on the existing legal system in Damascus rather than a new transitional-justice law under development by a transitional-justice committee.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat said the Fourth Criminal Court will begin public trial sessions for Atif Najib next Sunday after completion of legal procedures related to the case in the presence of victims’ families and the media.

A human rights report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights described legal and legislative gaps that it says threaten the first public trial of officials from the former Syrian regime, including Brigadier General Atef Najib, the former head of the Political Security Directorate in Daraa.

Lebanon Debate quoted Fadel Abdul Ghani, the executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, saying, "this trial represents the first test of the ability of the Syrian judiciary to build a legal record that can withstand scrutiny," while the report warned the trial file contains gaps related to the classification of crimes, individual criminal responsibility, and the temporal application of war crimes.

Lebanon Debate

Al-Jazeera Net reported that the Syrian Penal Code does not contain definitions of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, or enforced disappearance, and it said Law No. 16 of 2022 defines torture in a way that falls short of the standard set out in Article 1 of the Convention against Torture.

Al-Jazeera Net also said the report identified an issue with applying the war crimes framework to events in Daraa in February 2011 before the threshold of non-international armed conflict, citing that the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria set February 2012 as the date of onset and the International Committee of the Red Cross described the situation as reaching this threshold in July 2012.

The same Al-Jazeera Net report said the public record of in-absentia procedures does not include a comprehensive notification log documenting attempts to notify and reasons for their failure, nor does it confirm the appointment of a lawyer to represent the procedural interests of the absent defendants.

The Economist described Najib’s case as embodying difficulties for the government and lawyers sympathetic to it in holding accountable people like him, while it said the trial might be an attempt to curb tensions by delivering swift justice.

“A Thursday media report revealed that the Fourth Criminal Court will begin, next Sunday, public trial sessions for the former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa, Atif Najib, during the era of the ousted President Bashar al-Assad”

Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat

The Economist reported that Najib denied all charges on May 10 and blamed other Syrian security agencies for the crackdown in Daraa, and it said the judges plan to rely on treaties Syria has signed, most notably the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture.

Al-Jazeera Net said the first session of Atef Najib’s trial was held on 26 April 2026, with Najib appearing before the court, while eight other defendants were tried in absentia including Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad.

Al-Jazeera Net reported that in the second session held on 10 May 2026, the court confirmed the absence of the defendants, declared them fugitives from justice, and placed their assets under state management pursuant to Article 322 of the Code of Criminal Procedures.

Al-Jazeera Net said the indictment, as read in the 10 May session, included allegations of arrests and enforced disappearances in February 2011, detainees subjected to physical and psychological torture including electric shocks and severe beating, and deaths of detainees under torture including children.