Najib is the first Assad-era official to face trial since former president Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024. His trial is particularly significant amid many Syrians\u2019 growing concerns about slow progress towards accountability. Parliament has yet to convene, no formal transitional justice framework is in force and Syrian criminal law includes no explicit provisions for crimes against humanity or war crimes.<\/p>\n
As Sunday\u2019s hearing got underway, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan summoned Najib to a microphone. \u201cYes, I am present,\u201d he said flatly, his face expressionless as he raised his hand. The judge then proceeded to list the names of the other defendants, who have been issued summonses and are to be tried in absentia: Bashar and Maher al-Assad, along with six<\/a> other former officials at the head of the former regime\u2019s repressive security apparatus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Police march around a waiting area inside the Palace of Justice in Damascus ahead of Atef Najib\u2019s arrival, 10\/5\/2026 (Natacha Danon\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n \u201cYour accusation is linked to the events in Daraa province in early 2011, where [a] peaceful [protest] movement was met with excessive force,\u201d al-Aryan, the lead judge, said. \u201cYou are charged, in your capacity as the then-head of the Political Security Branch, with direct and joint command responsibility for systematic actions targeting civilians, including murder, torture, and arbitrary detention.\u201d<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s southern Daraa province is considered the birthplace of the Syrian revolution. In 2011, Najib oversaw a crackdown that included the arrest and torture of children and the first use of live gunfire against demonstrators.\u00a0<\/p>\n Spectators within the courtroom observed as al-Aryan laid out the charges against Najib\u2014as well as the legal basis for the trial itself. He invoked the Constitutional Declaration, Syria\u2019s de facto constitution that has governed the country\u2019s transition since last year, pointing to Article 12, which recognizes \u201call rights and freedoms in international human rights treaties ratified by Syria,\u201d as well as Article 49, which provides \u201can exception to the principle of statutory limitations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the former regime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the principle of unity of domestic and international law, international law has been adopted as a complementary and interpretative framework for national legislation,\u201d he added. The judge went on to list the Geneva Conventions, the First Additional Protocol, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Syrian penal code.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Syria has signed many international treaties, they have not been integrated into domestic law. Moreover, the country is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, which defines crimes against humanity. As a result, some legal observers and human rights advocates say the trial is premature, its legal basis weaker in the absence of a transitional justice law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Legal framework<\/p>\n Over the course of an hour, Najib denied all charges against him, saying neither he nor Political Security had any role in the detention of schoolchildren in Daraa, nor in the bloody repression of protests demanding their release that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also stated he was no longer head of Political Security in Daraa after March 22, 2011, and laid blame for many violations with other security branches: Military Security, State Security, and the Palestine Branch.<\/p>\n Read more: Who is Atef Najib, the man who fanned the flames of revolution in Daraa?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNajib is certainly in denial as a defendant, but we will focus on points extracted from some important testimonies,\u201d said Nouha al-Masri, an attorney for four plaintiffs in the case who herself lost two brothers during the war. The judge invoked the names of three witnesses, one of whom said he was interrogated by Najib and tortured in his presence. To protect the witnesses, al-Aryan requested that their names not be publicized.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, the code of criminal procedures used to form an obstacle to convicting the defendants. Now, we have been reassured that, God willing, there is a path to conviction,\u201d al-Masri told Syria Direct. \u201cThe court\u2019s adoption of international law and the description of the crimes committed as crimes against humanity gives us hope that the defendant will be convicted and punished.\u201d Under international law, those crimes have no statute of limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nouha al-Masri, a lawyer representing four of the plaintiffs in the case against Atef Najib, stands outside the Palace of Justice in Damascus, 10\/5\/2026 (Natacha Danon\/Syria Direct)<\/p>\n However, some lawyers and rights experts voiced concerns about the basis and timing for the current trial. \u201cI do believe that this [trial] is premature in that you need that legal framework so that you can determine who is tried, who is not, and when they are tried,\u201d Hiba Zayadin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Syria Direct.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy opinion was that trials under transitional justice should have been postponed until the law is issued by the People\u2019s Assembly, because then there would be a clear legal framework\u2026that establishes a solid foundation for all future trials,\u201d echoed Joumana Seif, a human rights lawyer who previously served on Syria\u2019s National Commission for Transitional Justice, until her resignation<\/a> last month. Seif attended Sunday\u2019s trial as a legal observer.<\/p>\n Moreover, it is more difficult for lawyers and judges to try perpetrators on the basis of treaties rather than domestic law. \u201cUltimately, this commitment to harmonizing Syrian laws is what human rights lawyers always see as the ideal situation\u2014when judges apply Syrian law and its characterization, it is certainly easier than going back to check this or that treaty,\u201d Seif said.<\/p>\n Seif also pointed to \u201cerrors in the legal characterization,\u201d such as Najib\u2019s indictment for war crimes. The Syrian conflict would not be labeled as an armed conflict until 2012, well after the end of Najib\u2019s tenure as head of political security in Daraa, she said. In addition, crimes of enforced disappearance and persecution were omitted, though \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean they are errors that cannot be rectified,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, I understand the pressure and I understand how much people need to see these indicators, these signs, these steps toward justice,\u201d Seif added. Revenge killings,<\/a> including against Alawite communities<\/a>, have continued to undermine the country\u2019s fragile political transition.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course we have seen there are criticisms of this seeming politicized,\u201d Zayadin added. \u201cWhy Atif Najib? Why now? Why not someone else? Why not Fadi Saqr<\/a>? Why not the commander of the Jaish al-Islam group that had just been welcomed with open arms upon return to Syria?,\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met<\/a> with Essam al-Buwaydhani\u2014commander of the former opposition faction Jaish al-Islam\u2014upon his repatriation from the United Arab Emirates, where he had been imprisoned on terrorism charges. His group is accused<\/a> of the forced disappearance of the Douma Four, a group of activists and researchers kidnapped<\/a> in 2013.<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AtefNajib-2a-800x533.jpg\")
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