The trials of prominent figures from the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are set to begin Sunday, a justice ministry official told AFP on Saturday, starting with a former security official.

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.

Assad’s forces pounded rebel-held areas, including with airstrikes and crude barrel bomb attacks, while tens of thousands of people disappeared, some into the country’s brutal prison system.

Next Sunday marks the start of the public trial of Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and former security chief in Daraa, who led the 2011 crackdown on peaceful protesters that catalyzed 14 years of brutal........

© The Times of Israel