Trial for officials of Baathist regime

In Syria, the trial of one of the most prominent security officials during the Baathist regime begins, amid demands to broaden the scope of accountability to include all those involved in the massacres that the country witnessed.

26 April, 2026 11:41

NEWSDESK

The Syrian Interim Government authorities began the trial today of Atef Najib, a security official in the Baathist regime, at the Criminal Court in the Palace of Justice in Damascus.

Atef Najib was born in 1960 in the city of Jableh in the Latakia countryside. He volunteered for the Military Academy and graduated as a lieutenant before rising through the ranks of the security forces in Damascus to the rank of brigadier general. He then headed the Political Security branch in Daraa between 2008 and 2011.

Najib's name is linked to the events that took place in Daraa at the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, which marked the starting point of the protests in Syria.

Najib is accused of insulting dignitaries and residents of Daraa when they went to demand the release of children who had been arrested after writing anti-Baathist slogans on their school walls.

The Interim Government authorities say that this trial is the beginning of the prosecution of "the henchmen of the former regime" in Syria.

In conjunction with the announcement of the start of the procedures, popular demands are escalating to prosecute all perpetrators of massacres in Syria before and after the fall of the Baath regime in the country, including the massacres of the coast and Swaida.

Sh-S

ANHA