Assad cousin notorious for role in suppressing protests in Syria arrested
CNN
A cousin of the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad who was involved in suppressing the protests that started the 2011 uprising has been detained inside Syria, according to state news agency SANA.
A cousin of the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad who was involved in suppressing the protests that started the 2011 uprising has been detained inside Syria, according to state news agency SANA. Atef Najib was detained in the Latakia region, an Assad family stronghold where some loyalists of the former regime have taken refuge. Assad and his family fled to Russia when rebels swept across the country last year. Najib had been sanctioned by the US and European Union for his role in violently suppressing protests in 2011. Protests against the Assad regime spread quickly in the spring of that year after a group of children were arrested and tortured for writing anti-regime graffiti on walls in the city of Deraa. According to local people at the time, the children had their fingernails removed. They’d been inspired by the Arab Spring that was sweeping through several countries in the region, including Egypt and Tunisia. Najib was then head of the regime’s Political Security Branch in Deraa.
