Under tight security, Najib stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner\u2019s uniform as the judge read the sentence. A crowd gathered outside the courthouse in central Damascus to hear the verdict.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cToday is the day of justice for all the wounded, martyrs, detainees and Syrians who were forced to leave their country,\u201d said Adnan al-Masalmeh, an attorney who represented families of Najib\u2019s victims. \u201cToday marks a victory of right against injustice, a victory of the Syrian people against the ousted regime.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after the government\u2019s fall in December 2024 and received political asylum. Syria\u2019s new rulers have asked Russia to hand the Assads over.<\/p>\n Najib, who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in April 2011, was later detained and is one of the highest-ranking security officials to be put on trial.<\/p>\n During his tenure as the former head of political security in Daraa, more than a dozen teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a school wall in Daraa were arrested and tortured. The case became a catalyst for mass protests against the repressive policies of Assad\u2019s security forces.<\/p>\n The protests were met by a brutal government crackdown that spiraled into a 14-year civil war that ended with Assad\u2019s ouster in a lightning rebel offensive.<\/p>\n Some of Najib\u2019s victims were present at the courthouse including two who were teenagers in 2011 and expressed their opinions to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we reached a point where the blood was not wasted,\u201d said Mouawiya Sayasneh, about those who died in the crackdown. Fifteen years later, \u201cthere is happiness that Atef Najib was sentenced to death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \t Another man, Nayef Abazeid, who was detained at the age of 13 in 2011, expressed his satisfaction with the sentence, adding that \u201cour biggest happiness will be when Bashar Assad is executed.\u201d<\/p>\n Maher Assad was a former commander of the Syrian military\u2019s 4th Armored Division \u2014 which opposition activists have accused of killings, torture, extortion and drug trafficking, in addition to running its own detention centers.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s scenes outside the courthouse reflect 15 years of pain and a justice long denied. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases, including this one,\u201d said Hiba Zayadin, Syria researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cIt\u2019s cruel and irreversible, especially when a fair trial isn\u2019t guaranteed.\u201d<\/p>\n Zayadin added that Najib has the right to appeal, and that process \u201cneeds to meet fair trial standards too.\u201d Real accountability for Assad-era crimes depends on Syria building a justice system that lasts, she said.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPeople celebrate after a Syrian court sentenced Atef Najib, a cousin of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, to death for overseeing a crackdown in Daraa that helped spark Syria\u2019s uprising and civil war, while Assad and his brother Maher were also sentenced to death in absentia, in Damascus, Syria, August 11, 2026. (AP\/Ghaith Alsayed)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26223380295518-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tRiot police stand outside the Palace of Justice during a court session that sentenced Atef Najib, a cousin of ousted president Bashar al Assad, to death for overseeing a crackdown in Daraa that helped spark Syria\u2019s uprising and civil war, while Assad and his brother Maher were sentenced to death in absentia, in Damascus, Syria, August 11, 2026. (AP\/Ghaith Alsayed)<\/p>\n
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