Equal before the law? Transitional justice in Syria
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Atef Najib, a former security chief, is the highest-profile member of the Assad regime to go on trial. We ask why the speed, uneven spread and murky legal basis of justice troubles many Syrians. Our series leading up to America’s 250th birthday continues to plumb our archive. Today: the cold war and Vietnam. And why whiskymaking is booming in China.
Guests and host:
- Gareth Browne, Middle East correspondent
- Annie Crabill, senior digital editor
- Don Weinland, China business and finance editor
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Syria, judicial system, transitional justice
- America, 250th anniversary, history
- China, business, whisky
Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.
Runtime: 24 min
TWITTER HANDLES OF CONTRIBS
@BrowneGareth – Syria
@annie_crabill – US250
@donweinland – whisky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.5 | I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 0:19.2 | Today on the show, the next in our America at 250 series, and a curious whiskey-making boom in China. |
| 0:33.5 | But first... |
| 0:48.3 | All this is. But first... In a daybe of the D'Aidhibe and his voice. Now. |
| 0:49.3 | Hauder. |
| 0:50.3 | In a Damascus courtroom, an old man stands in a cage. |
| 0:55.1 | He has a pained expression on his face. |
| 0:57.2 | He's wearing a black and white prison uniform. |
| 0:59.8 | Gareth Brown is a Middle East correspondent for the economist. |
| 1:02.6 | Artif Najib is on trial for murder, torture, and orchestrating massacres. |
| 1:07.2 | The judge of Ashik. massacres. |
| 1:21.4 | Fifteen years ago, this man was the security chief of Dera, a city in southern Syria. |
| 1:31.9 | When the parents of children arrested in protests in 2011, came to Mr. Najib, |
| 1:35.6 | who was head of security in the city at the time, to beg for mercy, |
| 1:40.2 | he told them to forget about their sons, to go home and to make new ones. |
| 1:49.0 | That brutal period in Dera morphed into nearly 14 years of nationwide repression, bloodshed and war. |
| 2:02.9 | But on May 10th, the Syrian courts finally began to catch up with the criminals who ran Bashar al-Assad's regime. Artif Najib is the first man to take the stand. And so before we speak about this specific case, what does the justice |
| 2:11.1 | system in Syria after the revolution now look like? Well, I think it's a judicial system in |
| 2:16.6 | transition like the rest of the country. And essentially, |
| 2:19.5 | there are two tracks. Last year, President Ahmed Sharra announced this transitional justice commission, |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 11 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Economist, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Economist and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.