The trial of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of his clan began in a Syrian court on Sunday. During this first hearing, Atef Najib, former head of political security in Daraa (south), appeared, handcuffed and in striped prison uniform, accused of having led a vast campaign of repression and arrests there during the 2011 uprising. Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher, who fled Syria after their fall in December 2024, will be tried in absentia.

Published on: 04/27/2026 - 08:08

A first hearing in the trial of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and key figures in his entourage was held on Sunday April 26 in a Syrian court, with one defendant present.

Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher, who fled Syria after their fall in December 2024, will be tried in absentia, but a member of their family, Atef Najib, appeared handcuffed and in striped prison clothing in court.

The accused must answer in particular for abuses during the civil war triggered in March 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations.

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“Today, we begin the first trials under transitional justice in Syria,” declared Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan as he opened the hearing.

“This concerns an accused in custody, present in the dock, as well as accused who have evaded justice,” he said.

The judge did not question Atef Najib during the hearing, devoted to "preparatory administrative and legal procedures" and announced that a second hearing would be held on May 10.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Charaa stressed on X on Sunday that justice would remain "a major objective that the state and its institutions strive to achieve."

To seeFrance 24 document: in Syria, survivors of the hell of Bashar al-Assad’s jails

Five decades of reign

A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP, said the hearing was a preamble to examining the cases of Bashar al-Assad, his brother and other figures such as Atef Najib.

This cousin of the deposed president, arrested in January 2025, is the former head of political security in Deraa (south), cradle of the 2011 uprising. He is accused of having led a vast campaign of repression and arrests there.

The fall and flight to Moscow of Bashar al-Assad put an end to more than five decades of unchallenged rule by his clan over the country.

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According to a judicial source, other key figures of Assad's power must also be tried, including Wassim al-Assad, another cousin of the former president; Amjad Youssef, the main suspect in a massacre committed in 2013 and arrested this week; as well as “pilots who participated in the bombing of Syrian cities”.

The war that devastated the country for 13 years left more than half a million dead.

Syrian forces have shelled rebel-held areas, while tens of thousands of people have disappeared, including from prisons.

After coming to power, the new Islamist authorities carried out several arrests of former officials, and promised justice for the crimes of the previous power.

With AFP

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