The cousin of former President Bashar al-Assad faces prices that embody homicide, torture and duty for massacres.
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A cousin of toppled Syrian chief Bashar al-Assad has been charged with a minimum of 10 crimes, together with homicide, torture and duty for massacres, within the second session of a landmark trial.
Atef Najib, the previous head of political safety in southern Syria’s Deraa province, appeared within the Fourth Legal Courtroom in Damascus on Sunday in a cage and sporting a striped jail uniform.
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He’s accused of overseeing a violent crackdown on antigovernment protesters in Deraa in the course of the 2011 rebellion, which sparked Syria’s 14-year civil conflict. Al Jazeera Mubasher’s correspondent stated 75 plaintiffs have filed circumstances towards Najib and are anticipated to present testimony in courtroom.
Attending the session had been kin of victims, members of the Nationwide Transitional Justice Fee and representatives of worldwide authorized and humanitarian organisations. After an open session lasting about an hour, the courtroom entered a closed session for the safety of some witnesses.
Najib first appeared in courtroom on April 26 for a preparatory session, however Sunday was the primary substantive day of his trial. The proceedings mark the primary effort in Syria to convey Assad-era officers to justice.
Al-Assad and his brother Maher, former commander of the Syrian army’s 4th Armoured Division, are being tried in absentia. Al-Assad fled to Russia in December 2024, and most members of his internal circle have additionally escaped Syria.
The federal government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has confronted criticism over delays in launching a promised transitional justice course of after the conflict, through which an estimated half one million folks had been killed. However authorities now seem like transferring extra aggressively to prosecute officers linked to al-Assad.
Najib oversaw political safety in Deraa when youngsters who scrawled antigovernment graffiti on a faculty wall had been arrested and tortured. The case grew to become a catalyst for a broader rebellion.
The Ministry of Inside’s Common Safety forces arrested Najib in January 2025 throughout a safety marketing campaign concentrating on remnants of the previous authorities in Latakia province. His arrest was thought of one of the important detentions of former safety officers as a result of he held a delicate safety place in Deraa at first of the Syrian rebellion.
