Sneak Peek: The Brief In - Syria's transitional justice after Assad

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]So, as the Arab Spring wave of uprising was sweeping through the region, it arrived in Syria on the walls of Daraa with graffiti by school children.

[00:00:09]>> The children wrote, "The people demand the fall of of the regime." Some children also wrote, "Your turn, doctor." In a reference to Bashar al-Assad. They were arrested apparently on the orders of Najib's orders. They were tortured. When their families asked about them, they were told to go away and reportedly the the security officers who met them told them, "Go away and make more children. Forget about these. And if you can't make more children, we'll go and visit your wives."

[00:00:40]>> And in a And in a conservative tribal or has tribal uh population >> Yes.

[00:00:47]>> like Daraa, that is an insult. Uh that is a grave insult.

[00:00:51]>> Well, it angered the families and it led to more protests, which which led to more to more >> [snorts] >> repression. From From Daraa, the the protests s- spr- spread to Homs.

[00:01:01]>> That's the history we all uh followed day by day >> Yeah.

[00:01:05]>> uh from 2011. And like you said, no one would have imagined that this uh these villains would would be in the dock today.

[00:01:13]>> Well, the trials began on on April the 26th. Um the mothers of children who were tortured or who who lost their lives, they were in tears outside.

[00:01:23]Nobody could imagine a scene like this in Syria 2 years ago.

[00:01:28]>> Can this be qualified as impartial, pure justice? Many scholars have argued this doesn't even exist because the whole process will be politicized. Of course, those who are trying who are putting on trial regime officials are those who won the war. Like those who like, you know, seized control of the mosques and the rest of country through weapons.

[00:01:49]>> [music]