The second session of the trial of Atef Naguib. Review of the indictment against him

On Sunday, May 10, 2026, the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus witnessed the second public session of the trial of the former regime's figures, where the defendant Atef Naguib appeared before the judiciary to face a heavy indictment related to the commission of massacres and war crimes, amid a legal presence and wide interest in the transitional justice process in the country.

At the beginning of the session, the judge presented the names of defendants who were absent from the session, foremost among them Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, and his former defense minister, Fahd al-Freij, and led security personnel in the former regime (Louay al-Ali, Talal al-Aismi, Wafiq Nasser, Qusay Mayhoub, and Muhammad Maayoush).

Their absence was established, they were considered fugitives and the fugitive defendants were prosecuted, with measures taken to strip them of their civil rights and to place their movable and immovable property wherever they existed under the administration of the State.

Reading out the indictment of Atef Naguib

Judge El-Erian addressed the defendant Atef Najib (66), holding him directly responsible for a series of serious violations targeting civilians in Daraa in 2011.

According to Judge El-Erian, the indictment included torturing children, arresting school students and giving them electric shocks because of graffiti, which led to the martyrdom of a number of them under torture.

It also included responsibility for storming the mosque and using armed force against protesters and mourners, issuing orders to deploy snipers on government buildings to target demonstrators with live bullets, using arrest as a means of bargaining with residents and forcing them to hand over their families, and deliberately preventing the wounded from being treated to face death.

In its reasoning, the court stressed that the acts attributed to Najib and the other defendants were not individual actions, but were part of an "organized repressive policy and widespread attack" targeting the civilian population.

These crimes amount to "war crimes" in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, the judge said, pointing to a flagrant violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols by targeting children's right to life and development.

Legal principles: No statute of limitations, no amnesty

In the context of consolidating the foundations of accountability, Judge El-Erian announced that the court adopts the principle of "non-limitation" on these crimes based on the 1968 Convention, stressing that no pardon can be granted to them due to their grave international nature.

Criminal charges range from "intentional murder accompanied by torture," to "incitement to murder," to "money laundering and theft of public funds."

In order to preserve the safety of witnesses and protect sensitive documents, the court decided to stop media coverage of the invisible portion of the hearings, with the information to be circulated later through the Ministry of Justice.

At the end of the session, the court set the date for the third session of Najib's trial on the 10th of next month, with expectations that other defendants will be represented in the coming days, including "Wassim al-Assad" and a number of pilots accused of genocide.

The trials are part of the transitional justice process, for which a "national body" was formed last year, which is waiting for the parliament to convene early next month in order to approve a law it has prepared, on the basis of which trials will take place. Symbols of the former regime are tried under the penal code, which does not include a description of genocide or war crimes.

Who is Atef Naguib accused of?

The defendant is Atef Najib, 66, who headed the Political Security branch in Daraa province in southern Syria between 2008 and 2011, and whose name was linked to the violations in early 2011 that led to the outbreak of the revolution against the ousted regime from Daraa, which then spread to the country.

Najib, who was born in the city of Jableh, is accused of arresting and torturing children in Daraa city in the first quarter of 2011 for more than 40 days, during which he used means of torture against children who had written anti-regime statements.

It is noteworthy that Atef Naguib has been on the US sanctions list since April 29, 2011, and on the European sanctions lists since May 9, 2011.