Syria's First Public Trial of Assad Aide Opens in Damascus

In Damascus, Syria's first public trial of former officials from Bashar al-Assad's regime opened on Sunday, with Atef Najib, a cousin of the ousted president and former head of political security in the southern Deraa province, appearing in court to face charges of crimes against the Syrian people.

Najib, a brigadier general in the Syrian army under Assad, is accused of overseeing a violent crackdown on protesters in Deraa in 2011. That year, security forces arrested and tortured teenagers who had scrawled anti-government graffiti on a school wall, an incident that ignited widespread demonstrations against the regime's repressive policies. The protests escalated into a full-scale civil war after government forces responded with brute force, leading to a 14-year conflict that killed an estimated half a million people, displaced millions more and left the country economically devastated. The war concluded in December 2024 with a rapid rebel offensive that toppled Assad, who then fled to Russia along with most of his inner circle.

The trial's preparatory session at the Palace of Justice featured Najib as the only defendant present; Assad, his brother Maher—who commanded the...