Syria has begun its first public trial of officials who served under longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, 15 years after the start of the civil war.
Trial proceedings opened in Damascus on Sunday for Atef Najib, the former head of political security in southern Syria’s Deraa province.
He is accused of overseeing a violent crackdown on protesters there during the 2011 uprising, and faces charges related to “crimes against the Syrian people,” according to Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA.
Further protests were met by a brutal government crackdown and spiraled into a 14-year civil war that ended with al-Assad’s overthrow in December 2024 in a lightning rebel offensive. Al-Assad then fled to Russia, and most members of his inner circle have also escaped Syria.
Read more here.
Syria Puts First Assad-Era Official on Trial in Damascus
26/04/2026
Image
Nous travaillons côte à côte avec les victimes pour obtenir la reconnaissance et la réparation des violations massives des droits humains, demander des comptes aux responsables, réformer et construire des institutions démocratiques et prévenir la répétition de la violence ou de la répression.