Khaberni - The Damascus Criminal Court judge decided to postpone the trial session of Atef Najib, the head of the Political Security branch in Daraa Governorate and several figures from the previous regime, to May 10th, as part of the first cases of the transitional justice process in Syria.
The postponement decision came after a session held at the Justice Palace in Damascus, involving a detained defendant and others who are fugitives from justice, according to the judge.
The trial began amid strict security measures and local and international media presence, and witnessed the attendance of victims' families coming from several provinces, primarily Daraa.
With strict security measures in place, the former security official Atef Najib was transferred to the Justice Palace in Damascus, where security forces were deployed and barriers set up on roads leading to the court, while those entering the session hall underwent thorough and prolonged inspections.
Najib appeared upon his arrival in a security vehicle designated for transporting detainees, wearing a striped prison uniform, before being brought into the Justice Palace to complete the session procedures.
The trial of the former head of the Political Security branch in Daraa is the first public trial of a senior official in the regime of the deposed president Bashar al-Assad.
Minutes before the session began, Najib appeared in the dock, and Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher were called absentia as defendants in the case.
Najib is one of the relatives of the deposed president Bashar al-Assad, and previously held the position of head of the Political Security branch in Daraa Governorate in the south of the country, the region that witnessed the start of public protests in 2011, and Najib is accused of being responsible for a campaign of repression, arrests, and large-scale detentions of protesters in that early stage of the revolution.
Transparency and Judicial Independence
A spokesperson for the Syrian Ministry of Justice told Al Jazeera Live from inside the Justice Palace in Damascus that this trial came after meeting all necessary legal procedures.
He added that this type of case requires time to gather evidence and testimonies and to complete the legal process, noting that holding the trial publicly is part of promoting transparency and judicial independence, within the phase of transitional justice.
The Syrian official confirmed that this session represents the beginning of a series of trials that will not stop and will include a number of individuals involved in serious violations.
"Guardians of blood"
A number of victims' families attended the courtroom to follow the proceedings, where some of them confirmed that they came from Daraa as "guardians of blood," demanding justice, while some of them called for the hanging execution of Atef Najib in the courtyard of the Omari Mosque in Daraa, considering it the site that witnessed the first massacres at the beginning of the events.
Since the fall of the previous regime in December 2024, several of its symbols have been arrested, while others fled to other countries, with the authorities seeking to retrieve the fugitives, including the deposed president who, along with some of his aides, fled to Russia.
The new administration, which came to power in December 2024, announces from time to time the arrest of military and security officials from the era of the previous rule, involved in committing crimes against Syrians during the years of the revolution.
