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- Rifaat Assad built European property empire worth $900m after fleeing Syria in 1984 following failed coup
- The 82-year-old, who received hospital treatment in December for internal bleeding, was not in court for the sentencing
PARIS: A French court on Wednesday sentenced the uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad to four years in prison for money laundering and the misappropriation of Syrian public funds for his own benefit.
Rifaat Assad, the 82-year-old brother of late President Hafez Assad, was not in court for the sentencing. He was treated in hospital in December for internal bleeding.
The court in Paris also ordered the confiscation of his property portfolio in France, worth an estimated 90 million euros ($100 million), and a London property worth 29 million euros.
Assad, who claims to be an opponent of the current Syrian regime led by his nephew, allegedly led a 1982 massacre in Hama of Islamists who were rebelling against his brother’s rule. Thousands were killed during the crackdown, which earned him the nickname “Butcher of Hama.”
He fled Syria in 1984, after mounting a failed coup against his brother, and initially settled in Switzerland before moving to France with his family and 200 associates. Later, he divided his time between France and the UK.
After moving to Europe, he set about building a real-estate empire in France, the UK and Spain that was reportedly worth 800 million euros.
Assad owned two townhouses in Paris, one of which is in the lavish Avenue Foch in the 16th arrondissement next to a home that was owned by former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, who died in March at the age of 81. In addition, he owned a building in the 15th arrondissement, a stud farm in Val-d’Oise and a chateau and large office space in Lyon.
He also assembled a large real-estate portfolio in Spain worth about 695 million euros. All of his Spanish properties were seized by the authorities in 2017.
He had been under investigation in France since 2014 and denied the charges against him. His lawyers argued that the complaint against him was filed by the Syrian opposition, and said his wealth was not stolen from Syrian public funds but had been donated to him.
The court dismissed charges against Assad pertaining to the period from 1984 to 1996, but found him guilty of the organized laundering, between 1996 and 2016, of funds embezzled from the Syrian public purse, AFP reported.
Former French ambassador to Syria Charles Henri d’Aragon said that the conviction proved the source of Assad’s money was not as he claimed, a gift from the Gulf.
-- With AFP