A Syrian court held a preparatory session on Sunday for the first trial of several former officials from President Bashar Assad’s deposed government, with only one defendant physically present.
Assad’s government was ousted in December 2024 after more than a decade of civil war. He, his brother Maher and other senior figures now face trial for alleged crimes committed during the conflict.
“Today we begin the first trials of transitional justice in Syria,” Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said as he opened the session. “This includes a defendant in custody, present in the dock, as well as defendants who have fled justice.”
One cousin of the former president, Atef Najib, appeared in the dock in handcuffs and a striped prison uniform. Najib, arrested in January 2025, formerly headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa, where Syria’s 2011 uprising began. State news agency SANA said he faces charges linked to “crimes against the Syrian people.” He was not questioned during the brief session, which covered preparatory administrative and legal procedures. Another hearing is scheduled for May 10.
Assad and his brother Maher, believed to be in Russia, were charged in absentia. Opposition activists accuse Maher’s former 4th Armored Division of killings, torture, extortion, drug trafficking and operating detention centers. Many other members of Assad’s inner circle are thought to have fled the country.
The AFP cited an unnamed judicial source saying other officials expected to face in-person trials include Wassim Assad, former grand mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, and various military and security figures arrested by the new authorities.
Crowds gathered outside the Palace of Justice in Damascus, celebrating and trying to enter the building as police maintained order. The interim government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa—himself a former leader of an Islamist group that fought during the war—had faced criticism over delays in launching the promised transitional justice process.
Syria remains deeply scarred after 14 years of conflict that left an estimated half a million dead and millions displaced, dividing the country among multiple factions. The trials mark the start of a contentious effort to address wartime abuses under the new authorities.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko