The highly charged scenes in a Damascus court on Sunday, as the first official of the former Assad regime went on trial, were a stark reminder of the clamour for justice among the families of its countless victims. While some say it is a start, it has also raised concerns over the will of Syria’s fresh authorities to bring the many perpetrators to account.

“People want to hang Atef Najib!” the crowd chanted inside the Palace of Justice, where the former head of the Political Security intelligence agency in the southern city of Deraa faced charges of “crimes against the Syrian nation”.

There were also shouts of “Signs of victory have arrived from Houran”, a slogan sung during the uprising, referring to the region surrounding Deraa, where anti-government protests began in 2011 before spiralling into a civil war.

Families of the victims of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad gathered in the courtroom, waiting for Najib – Assad’s first cousin – to be brought before the judges. This was the first trial in a court specially designed for such cases.

One mother sat on a bench quietly, tears rolling down her face, as others around her chanted “death and no humiliation”, another slogan used during the uprising, and “Syria for us and not for the Assad regime”. Another woman behind her wiped tears from her own face.

This was a moment when many families felt justice was prevailing, allowing their relatives killed under Assad to finally rest in peace.

Najib walked into the courtroom dressed in a black-and-white prison uniform. He took his place, standing behind bars as the families looked on.

He is being prosecuted for crimes committed against the citizens of Deraa in the uprising. It began there after security forces violently cracked down on protesters who took to the streets after several boys had been arrested and tortured for writing anti-government graffiti inspired by the “Arab Spring”.

Najib is reported to have met representatives of the boys’ families at the time and said: “Forget your children. If you want children, generate more children. If you don’t know how, bring us your women and we will generate them for you.”

Under Assad’s regime, human rights activists and protesters were prosecuted at the Palace of Justice, with many of them sentenced to death after unfair trials. Now, by a twist of fate, former officials are facing trial in the same place.

Nuha al-Masri, a 54-year-old lawyer from Deraa, was one of those who filed a case against Najib and was in court to see him.

Masri’s brother was killed when Najib ordered security forces to crush protests in March 2011.

“I felt that today we started to get justice. It tells everyone that no-one is exempt from justice. It was a dream to see a regime member behind bars,” she commented.

But while Najib’s trial is a milestone for many families, there are those who criticise it as a show to appease the public.

Anwar al-Bunni is a Syrian human rights lawyer and head of the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research.

He played a key role in gathering evidence for the trial of former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan in Germany in 2020-22. That trial, which was the world’s first criminal case brought over state-led torture in Syria, saw Raslan sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of crimes against humanity over the murder of 58 citizens and the torture of more than 4,000. This also touches on aspects of diplomacy.

“Syrian law has no legislation [for prosecuting] war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he told the BBC. “They are ridiculing his [Najib’s] crimes and ridiculing the victims with this trial.”

“This should have been done when there is a law passed by the parliament for war crimes and conducted by a different body like the Commission for Transitional Justice, but not with this court with no experienced judges,” he added.

Zahra Barazi, vice-president of the National Commission for Transitional Justice set up in 2025 to deal with past abuses, remarked they were working closely with the ministry of justice on the case.

“We drafted a Transitional Justice law to ensure that in the future once the law is passed by the parliament, fresh charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes will be added to the charges,” she added. “The court itself is a specialised court with specialised Transitional Justice judges.”

Syria’s updated Islamist government has arrested several members of the Assad regime. The most recent was Amjad Youssef, a key suspect in the Tadamon massacre in 2013, when 41 civilians were blindfolded, shot dead and thrown into a pit.

But there is still mounting criticism of the government’s approach to dealing with those from the former authorities accused of serious crimes.

For example, a former commander of a pro-Assad militia, Fadi Saqr, has been linked to the killings in Tadamon but is now working with the government’s civil peace commission, raising concerns among activists about accountability.

For victims of the former regime though, the opening of this trial has brought some of them closure, and hope that the path towards justice has finally begun.

Additional reporting from Lana Antaki in Damascus

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