Atef Najib, cousin of ousted regime leader Bashar al-Assad, stands behind bars during his trial in Damascus, 26 April 2026. [Getty]
Syrian security forces have arrested a former Assad official suspected of committing human rights abuses against civilians in Daraa province during the 2011 uprising, Syria’s interior ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said it had taken into custody Raafat Anwar Al-Amoudi, one of the most wanted individuals accused of working for the Popular Committees militia affiliated with the Assad regime in Daraa.
The ministry added that investigations indicate Al-Amoudi was involved in the detention and enforced disappearance of an unknown number of people in the province.
He reportedly worked under Wafiq Nasser, a senior military officer who led military intelligence in southern Syria during the civil war. Nasser participated in the Assad regime’s first attacks in Daraa in 2011 where he is thought to have committed widespread abuses against civilians.
The ministry said he had also closely cooperated with Qusay Mihoub, who led the Daraa branch of the Air Force Intelligence Service.
“His role consisted of handing over wanted individuals to security agencies and then financially extorting their families by negotiating with them for large sums of money in exchange for false promises of securing their release,” the statement said.
The Assad regime’s brutal crackdown in Daraa sparked the nationwide uprising in March 2011. The detention and torture of students in the city triggered anti-government protests, which were violently suppressed by security forces.
Since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Syrian authorities have been pursuing former regime officials and members accused of involvement in violations committed against civilians during the country’s brutal 13-year civil war.
A major milestone was reached in May when a Damascus court opened the first criminal trial of an Assad-era official.
Atef Najib – who headed Daraa’s political security branch and is a cousin of Assad – has been charged with acts amounting to war crime, including the arrest and torture of children and the use of lethal force against protesters.
