Syria to begin trying Assad-era figures tomorrow, justice ministry official says

Damascus is set to begin trials of prominent figures from the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, a justice ministry official tells AFP, starting tomorrow with a former security official.

“The first trial sessions for symbolic former Syrian regime figures will begin on Sunday” with Atif Najib, who was arrested in January of last year, the official says, on condition of anonymity.

Najib is the former head of political security in south Syria’s Daraa province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising, and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. He is on a US Treasury sanctions list alongside other Syrian officials, and is a cousin of the ousted leader.

Next Sunday marks the start of the public trial of Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and former security chief in Daraa, who led the 2011 crackdown on peaceful protesters that catalyzed 14 years of brutal repression.

This marks a critical step towards justice and accountability for… pic.twitter.com/wZYrAAzNRo

— Syrian Emergency Task Force (@syrianetf) April 24, 2026

The ministry official says trials would follow for Wassim al-Assad — another of the former president’s cousins — and Amjad Youssef, the main suspect in a 2013 massacre who was arrested this week, as well as “pilots who took part in bombing Syrian cities and towns.”

Wassim al-Assad was arrested last June. The US Treasury sanctioned him in 2023, saying he had led a paramilitary unit and was “a key figure in the regional drug trafficking network.”

Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais said yesterday on X that the Damascus criminal court was ready “for the moment that victims have long waited for: the start of public trials,” calling them “part of the transitional justice process.”

Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasized the importance of transitional justice in the war-ravaged country.