DAMASCUS: Trials of prominent figures from the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are set to begin this weekend, a justice ministry official said on Saturday, starting with a former security official.

“The first trial sessions for symbolic former Syrian regime figures will begin on Sunday” with Atif Najib, who was arrested in January of last year, the official said.

Najib is the former head of political security in south Syria’s Daraa province, the cradle of the country’s 2011 uprising, and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. He is also a cousin of the ousted leader.

The ministry official said trials would follow for Wassim al-Assad — another of the former president’s cousins — and Amjad Youssef, the main suspect in a 2013 massacre who was arrested this week, as well as “pilots who took part in bombing Syrian cities and towns”.

Syria’s civil war began with a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests and spiralled into a 13-year conflict that killed more than half a million people.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2026