Arabic version: الحكم بالإعدام على عاطف نجيب في دمشق

According to Al Jazeera, former Syrian security official Atef Najib has been sentenced to death by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus for crimes linked to the 2011 crackdown on protesters in Deraa province.

Najib, 66, was sentenced alongside former President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad, who received death sentences in absentia. The court found that crimes committed by the former government in Deraa in 2011 amounted to crimes against humanity.

Najib, a first cousin of Bashar al-Assad, was the former head of political security in Deraa. He was in charge when teenagers were arrested and tortured after writing antigovernment graffiti on a school wall, an episode that became a catalyst for a wider uprising and later the country’s 14-year civil war.

He had been detained in Syria since January 2025 after being arrested by Interior Ministry general security forces in Latakia province. During proceedings that began on April 26, he faced at least 10 charges, including murder, torture, responsibility for massacres and crimes against humanity. The court said he was involved in the torture of many detainees, including children, and was responsible for deaths during detention.

The ruling is described as the first Syrian court decision against a senior official from the al-Assad era under the transitional authorities. Seventy-five plaintiffs filed cases against Najib, according to an Al Jazeera Mubasher report. The trial is being viewed as a test for Syria’s transitional justice process and future legal action over abuses committed during the war.