Uncle of Syria’s Assad sentenced to prison in France for graft

PARIS — A Paris court on Wednesday convicted Syrian President Bashar Assad’s uncle of money laundering and misappropriating Syrian public funds and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Rifaat Assad, 82, was hospitalized with internal bleeding in France in December and was not in the dock for the ruling.

The court also ordered the confiscation of Assad’s vast real estate assets in France worth an estimated 90 million euros ($100 million).

The younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez Assad — father of the incumbent president — was tried in Paris for crimes allegedly committed between 1984 and 2016, including aggravated tax fraud and misappropriation of Syrian funds.

Then Syrian President Hafez Assad (R) with his younger brother Rifaat at a formal reception in 1986. (AFP)

Dubbed the “Butcher of Hama” for allegedly commanding troops who put down an uprising in central Syria in 1982, Assad has been under investigation in France since 2014.

The national finance prosecutor had sought a four-year prison sentence and a 10-million-euro fine, and called for the confiscation of all Assad’s property.

Assad, who divides his time between France and Britain, denied the charges.