Syria's judiciary brought charges on Sunday against former security official Atef Najib for acts "amounting to war crimes" in 2011 against peaceful protesters in Daraa province, the cradle of the country's uprising.
Najib was the former head of political security in the southern Syrian province and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. Washington sanctioned him for human rights abuses in April 2011, one month after the uprising erupted.
He appeared in a Damascus criminal court again on Sunday after the opening session last month in the trials of former senior figures, most prominently longtime regime leader Bashar al Assad and his brother Maher al Assad, who are both being tried in absentia.
Judge Fakhr al Din al Aryan read out the charges at Sunday's session, part of which was broadcast on state television, as Najib stood in the dock.
"The accusations against you relate to events in Daraa province in early 2011, when the peaceful (protest) movement was met with an excessive use of force," Aryan said.
"As head of the political security branch then, you held direct and joint leadership responsibility for systematic acts that targeted civilians including killing, torture and arbitrary detention," he added.
Abuses include torture of children
He said abuses attributed to Najib, some of them deadly, include the arrest and torture of children due to "political writings on walls", involvement in "suppressing protests with excessive force" and "opening direct fire" on a peaceful sit-in at Daraa's Al Omari mosque.
They also include "torture leading to death" in his branch's detention centres.
"You were the ultimate authority in Daraa province and hold direct responsibility for issuing orders to kill, arrest and torture... and for participating with political, security and military leaders in an organised hierarchical structure in committing these grave violations," the judge said.
The actions attributed to Najib and others not present "amount to war crimes... and crimes against humanity", he added.
The court heard statements from Najib and witnesses, state media said, after the judge halted media coverage.
Led crackdown that fuelled civil war
Syria's more than 13-year civil war killed more than half a million people and displaced millions of others. Tens of thousands of people disappeared, some into the ousted regime’s brutal prison system.
The uprising began in Daraa on March 15, 2011, after 15 students were arrested for allegedly writing anti-regime slogans on the city's walls.
Residents said the students were tortured, leading to a protest to demand their release that ended in bloodshed.
Security forces under ousted President Bashar al-Assad suppressed peaceful demonstrations with force and fired live ammunition to disperse sit-ins at several locations.
Najib was dismissed after the crackdown, as the protests spread to other provinces.
He was among the first Assad-era officials arrested by the new authorities after the December 2024 ousting of the longtime ruler.
