In‑person trials will include Wasim al‑Assad, former Grand Mufti Badr al‑Din Hassoun, and other military and security officials.

On Sunday, the first session of the in‑absentia trial of former Syrian President Bashar al‑Assad, his brother Maher al‑Assad, and several other prominent figures of the former regime was held. Among them was former security official Atif Najib, who appeared in person before the court.

A judicial source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that “the first session of the transitional justice proceedings begins with preparations for an in‑absentia trial of the criminal Bashar al‑Assad and his brother Maher, in addition to an in‑person trial of several security and military officials, the first of whom is the criminal Atif Najib,” who was arrested in January 2025.

Najib appeared in court in Damascus with his hands shackled, according to an AFP correspondent. Najib, a relative of the ousted president Bashar al‑Assad, previously headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa (south), where the spark of the 2011 popular protests first ignited. He is considered responsible for a wide campaign of repression and mass arrests in the province.

Criminal Court Judge Fakhr al‑Din al‑Aryan opened the session by saying, "Today we begin the first transitional justice trials in Syria… involving a defendant who has been arrested and is present in the dock, as well as defendants who are fugitives from justice,” before reading out the names of other prominent figures from the former ruling era—foremost among them the ousted president Bashar al‑Assad and his brother Maher—who will be tried in absentia.