As the trial of former Assad regime security official Atef Najib moves forward, some lawyers and human rights experts warn that it may be premature in the absence of a legal framework for transitional justice. The post As Atef Najib’s trial proceeds, what legal basis exists for transitional justice?
As the trial of former Assad regime security official Atef Najib moves forward, some lawyers and human rights experts warn that it may be premature in the absence of a legal framework for transitional justice.
11 May 2026
DAMASCUS — A hush fell over a courtroom in Damascus on Sunday, as Atef Najib—a former high-ranking Syrian security official and cousin of Bashar al-Assad—entered and took a seat in a cage to the right of the judges’ podium. With arms crossed, Najib surveyed the room in the Palace of Justice, where dozens of observers were seated.
At a preliminary trial session attended by Najib on April 26, the courtroom was a rowdier scene, as relatives of Syrians tortured or killed during Najib’s tenure as head of Political Security in Daraa province in 2011 shouted insults and revolutionary chants. Most families were not allowed in the courtroom during Sunday’s hearing, and instead gathered outside the courthouse holding pictures of deceased loved ones.
Najib is the first Assad-era official to face trial since former president Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024. His trial is particularly significant amid many Syrians’ growing concerns about slow progress towards accountability. Parliament has yet to convene, no formal transitional justice framework is in force and Syrian criminal law includes no explicit provisions for crimes against humanity or war crimes.
As Sunday’s hearing got underway, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan summoned Najib to a microphone. “Yes, I am present,” he said flatly, his face expressionless as he raised his hand. The judge then proceeded to list the names of the other defendants, who have been issued summonses and are to be tried in absentia: Bashar and Maher al-Assad, along with six other former officials at the head of the former regime’s repressive security apparatus.
Police march around a waiting area inside the Palace of Justice in Damascus ahead of Atef Najib’s arrival, 10/5/2026 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)
“Your accusation is linked to the events in Daraa province in early 2011, where [a] peaceful [protest] movement was met with excessive force,” al-Aryan, the lead judge, said. “You are charged, in your capacity as the then-head of the Political Security Branch, with direct and joint command responsibility for systematic actions targeting civilians, including murder, torture, and arbitrary detention.”
Syria’s southern Daraa province is considered the birthplace of the Syrian revolution. In 2011, Najib oversaw a crackdown that included the arrest and torture of children and the first use of live gunfire against demonstrators.
Spectators within the courtroom observed as al-Aryan laid out the charges against Najib—as well as the legal basis for the trial itself. He invoked the Constitutional Declaration, Syria’s de facto constitution that has governed the country’s transition since last year, pointing to Article 12, which recognizes “all rights and freedoms in international human rights treaties ratified by Syria,” as well as Article 49, which provides “an exception to the principle of statutory limitations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the former regime.”
“Based on the principle of unity of domestic and international law, international law has been adopted as a complementary and interpretative framework for national legislation,” he added. The judge went on to list the Geneva Conventions, the First Additional Protocol, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Syrian penal code.
While Syria has signed many international treaties, they have not been integrated into domestic law. Moreover, the country is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, which defines crimes against humanity. As a result, some legal observers and human rights advocates say the trial is premature, its legal basis weaker in the absence of a transitional justice law.
Over the course of an hour, Najib denied all charges against him, saying neither he nor Political Security had any role in the detention of schoolchildren in Daraa, nor in the bloody repression of protests demanding their release that followed.
He also stated he was no longer head of Political Security in Daraa after March 22, 2011, and laid blame for many violations with other security branches: Military Security, State Security, and the Palestine Branch.
“Najib is certainly in denial as a defendant, but we will focus on points extracted from some important testimonies,” said Nouha al-Masri, an attorney for four plaintiffs in the case who herself lost two brothers during the war. The judge invoked the names of three witnesses, one of whom said he was interrogated by Najib and tortured in his presence. To protect the witnesses, al-Aryan requested that their names not be publicized.
“For us, the code of criminal procedures used to form an obstacle to convicting the defendants. Now, we have been reassured that, God willing, there is a path to conviction,” al-Masri told Syria Direct. “The court’s adoption of international law and the description of the crimes committed as crimes against humanity gives us hope that the defendant will be convicted and punished.” Under international law, those crimes have no statute of limitations.
Nouha al-Masri, a lawyer representing four of the plaintiffs in the case against Atef Najib, stands outside the Palace of Justice in Damascus, 10/5/2026 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)
However, some lawyers and rights experts voiced concerns about the basis and timing for the current trial. “I do believe that this [trial] is premature in that you need that legal framework so that you can determine who is tried, who is not, and when they are tried,” Hiba Zayadin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Syria Direct.
“My opinion was that trials under transitional justice should have been postponed until the law is issued by the People’s Assembly, because then there would be a clear legal framework…that establishes a solid foundation for all future trials,” echoed Joumana Seif, a human rights lawyer who previously served on Syria’s National Commission for Transitional Justice, until her resignation last month. Seif attended Sunday’s trial as a legal observer.
Moreover, it is more difficult for lawyers and judges to try perpetrators on the basis of treaties rather than domestic law. “Ultimately, this commitment to harmonizing Syrian laws is what human rights lawyers always see as the ideal situation—when judges apply Syrian law and its characterization, it is certainly easier than going back to check this or that treaty,” Seif said.
Seif also pointed to “errors in the legal characterization,” such as Najib’s indictment for war crimes. The Syrian conflict would not be labeled as an armed conflict until 2012, well after the end of Najib’s tenure as head of political security in Daraa, she said. In addition, crimes of enforced disappearance and persecution were omitted, though “that doesn’t mean they are errors that cannot be rectified,” she noted.
“At the same time, I understand the pressure and I understand how much people need to see these indicators, these signs, these steps toward justice,” Seif added. Revenge killings, including against Alawite communities, have continued to undermine the country’s fragile political transition.
“Of course we have seen there are criticisms of this seeming politicized,” Zayadin added. “Why Atif Najib? Why now? Why not someone else? Why not Fadi Saqr? Why not the commander of the Jaish al-Islam group that had just been welcomed with open arms upon return to Syria?,” she asked.
Last month, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met with Essam al-Buwaydhani—commander of the former opposition faction Jaish al-Islam—upon his repatriation from the United Arab Emirates, where he had been imprisoned on terrorism charges. His group is accused of the forced disappearance of the Douma Four, a group of activists and researchers kidnapped in 2013.
The mandate of Syria’s National Commission for Transitional Justice—an independent government body—only includes crimes “committed by the former regime” as per the constitutional declaration. However, a forthcoming draft of the transitional justice law could leave room for interpretation to implicate all parties to the conflict, sources familiar with the commission’s work told Syria Direct.
“The way is very long, and it definitely is not the last trial we should be seeing, and not just for Assad crimes, but for many of the others that were committed by other parties to the conflict that were also widespread, that were also systemic and that were also considered grave,” Zayadin added.
Najib’s next hearing is scheduled for May 19.
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