Ousted President Assad Cousin Appears Before Fourth Criminal Court

(MENAFN) Atef Najib, a cousin of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and former head of political security in Syria's southern city of Daraa, appeared Sunday before the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus in what marks the opening chapter of Syria's transitional justice process, a state broadcaster reported.

Footage aired by the channel showed Najib standing in the defendant's cage after being transferred to the Syrian capital for the proceedings — images that carry profound symbolic weight for a country emerging from decades of authoritarian rule and a devastating civil war.

Fugitives Named Alongside the Accused
An unnamed judge presiding over the session framed the trial's broader significance, stating: "The first trials of transitional justice in Syria include a detainee (Atef Najib) and defendants who are fugitives from justice."

Among those fugitives listed by the court were Assad himself, his brother and commander of the notorious Fourth Division, Maher Assad, former Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij, former military intelligence chief in Daraa Laith al-Ali, and former military intelligence chief in Suwayda province Wafiq Nasser.

The session was adjourned until May 10, the judge announced.

The Man Who Sparked a Revolution
Najib, arrested in January of last year, is a graduate of the Military Academy who rose through the ranks of Syria's feared intelligence apparatus, eventually heading the Political Security Branch in Daraa.

His alleged crimes place him at the very origin point of Syria's catastrophic unrest. He is accused of being among the first officials to unleash systematic violations against civilians in Daraa — widely recognized as the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that ignited the country's civil war.

Most damning among the accusations: Najib is blamed for personally ordering the arrest and torture of children in Daraa who had scrawled anti-regime graffiti on walls — an act of brutal repression that directly triggered the initial protests and set Syria on its years-long path to conflict.

Assad's Fall and Syria's New Dawn
The trial unfolds against the backdrop of a seismic political transformation. In December 2024, Assad — who had ruled Syria for nearly 25 years — fled to Russia as his government collapsed, ending the Baath Party's ironclad grip on power that had begun in 1963. A transitional administration under President Ahmad al-Sharaa was subsequently formed in January 2025.

Sunday's court appearance represents the first concrete step in a transitional justice process that millions of Syrians have long demanded — and a signal that the new administration intends to hold the architects of the old regime's brutality accountable before the law.

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