Last Thursday, October 7, 2021, Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, returned to Syria after nearly 36 years in exile.
Rifaat al-Assad's return comes just a month after the Court of Appeal in Paris upheld a ruling that sentenced him to four years in prison on charges including money laundering within an organized gang, embezzlement of public funds in Syria, as well as confiscation of his assets in France worth 90 million euros.
What is the life story of Rifaat al-Assad, who is being pursued by Switzerland, on suspicion of committing war crimes for his role in killing up to 40,000 civilians during the military campaign on the city of Hama (central Syria), and at the time he was a commander of the so-called “Defense Brigades”?
Birth and military upbringing
August 22, 1937: Rifaat Ali Suleiman al-Assad was born in Qardaha, Lattakia Governorate.
1963: When the March 8 revolution broke out and the Baath Party took power in Syria, Rifaat was at the head of the Baathist officers who graduated from the Military Academy.
- February 23, 1966: After his graduation, he participated in the coup that overthrew the government of the Syrian Arab Republic.
1967: He became commander of the 569th Division, then the Defense Brigades joined him to train it, which is believed to be one of the most prominent divisions of the Syrian Arab Army, and its strongest support.
1969: Rifaat al-Assad participated in the so-called corrective movement led by his brother Hafez al-Assad, and at that time Rifaat al-Assad joined the course of armored and infantry guard commander in Qaboun (northeast of Damascus).
He received a high-ranking staff course with a group of Russian experts on military doctrine.
1975: He assumed the position of President of the Constitutional Court, and he combined this position with the position of Head of the Higher Education Office until 1980.
1977: He obtained a doctorate in economics from a study he prepared on economic transformations in the agricultural and industrial sectors.
He received a doctorate in history from Damascus University. He also received many honors, certificates, and awards from several institutions and some political figures, such as French President Francois Mitterrand, who awarded him a knighthood.
- He is the first accused in many major crimes and mass massacres that took place in Syria under the rule of the Baath Party, such as the massacres of Hama and Palmyra prison.
February 1982: He was the supervisor and commander-in-chief of the Syrian army, and led the forces in carrying out the "Hama massacre" against the Muslim Brotherhood, by giving instructions to his forces to bomb the city, killing thousands of its residents, which became known as the "Hama massacre".
- American journalist Thomas Friedman said in his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" published in 1989, that Rifaat later boasted about the total number of victims and said that they were no less than 38,000.
A coup attempt.. Mustafa Tlass novel
- In 1984: It was rumored that he had attempted a coup against his brother Hafez al-Assad to seize power, but President Hafez al-Assad prevented that, and the dispute was settled by Rifaat al-Assad's exit from Syria with a large group of people working with him for a period of 6 months until the crisis is overcome.
- Former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass mentioned in his book "Three Months that Shook Syria" that Rifaat al-Assad tried to lead a coup attempt to isolate his brother Hafez al-Assad after he fell into a coma in 1984.
- The matter developed into a conflict between his forces and government forces, and Rifaat al-Assad was threatening to burn the capital, Damascus, but Hafez al-Assad managed to contain the matter, and forced his brother to leave Syria after giving him a large sum of money, which the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at the time ensured to pay Due to the emptiness of the state treasury from the required cash, he then resided in his private resort in Marbella, Spain.
1985: He returned to Damascus and participated in the work and discussions of the Qatari conference. Despite his appointment to the position of Vice President of the Syrian Arab Republic for Security Affairs, the political differences between the two brothers remained explosive in many files.
1985: He left Syria again to reside in Paris, after declaring more than once that he was not responsible for Syrian policies and decisions in all fields.
1992: He returned to Syria to participate in the funeral of his mother, who died while he was in Paris.
Many saw him as the likely successor to his older brother, Hafez al-Assad, in the leadership of the country.
He expressed his dissatisfaction with many of the decisions taken between 1992 and 1998.
1998: He decided to leave Syria for Paris again after being relieved of his position as Vice President for National Security Affairs.
2001: He moved to the Spanish city of Marbella and invested in the field of television networks by owning the Arab satellite station "ANN", headed by one of his sons.
His investments made him divide his time traveling between Britain, France and Spain. He also worked in the real estate field, and he has huge investments in this field.
2006: Against the background of a claim made by the famous arms dealer Munther al-Kassar in the pages of Spanish newspapers, the Spanish judiciary charged him with financial embezzlement.
2009: Rifaat al-Assad acquitted before the Spanish judiciary of all these charges, while the court issued an order to imprison “Monther al-Kassar” on charges of misleading the judiciary, lying, fraud, bribery and extortion of judges. And to serve a prison sentence in American prisons.
2011: Rifaat al-Assad sided with those who demanded the departure of Bashar al-Assad's regime, which was questioned by opponents, but without leaving the Assad family's rule. For the ruling in exchange for obtaining guarantees for him and his relatives, and the assumption of power by his uncle or “a member of the family”.
2011: He announced the formation of a new opposition movement headed by him, called the "National Democratic Council", comprising mainly officials in his party, the "United National Democratic Gathering" and former leaders of the Ba'ath Party.
A life of extravagance and gambling
- Several newspapers have rumored that Rifaat al-Assad is famous for his extravagant and gambling life in Europe, along with his children.
1990: The French newspapers Le Point and Le Figaro claimed that the cost of residency for Rifaat al-Assad, his children and their entourage was about 60 million French francs annually, equivalent to about 10 million dollars.
1990 and 1991: Rifaat al-Assad's family filed a lawsuit before the Paris courts against 33 media outlets, and it won all the lawsuits it filed, and ordered the courts to pay them compensation instead of defamation.
Le Figaro paid €100,000 for defamation, which led to its bankruptcy and cheap transfer of ownership to a new owner.
Huge fortune
- September 13, 2013: Sherpa and Transparency International France, which fight corruption and accuse Rifaat al-Assad of owning “huge property” through financial embezzlement, filed a complaint with the French judiciary.
September 30, 2103: The French judiciary opened an investigation into Rifaat al-Assad's huge wealth following the complaint of the two organizations. The French authorities confiscated his movable assets and luxury real estate. The investigation showed that he and his relatives transferred assets through companies in Panama, Liechtenstein, and then to Luxembourg.
- 2014: Customs investigators estimated the total value of Assad's real estate and his family's property at about 90 million euros, and the list included a palace and a horse farm in the Paris suburb and real estate properties in its richest neighborhoods, including hotels, two complete buildings and offices in Lyon.
Investigators said he bought the property between 1984, when he arrived in France with his escorts, and 1988.
2015: Rifaat al-Assad testified for the first time before the French judiciary and said that the money came from the then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in the eighties, stressing at the same time that he did not take over the management of these properties himself.
June 9, 2016: The French judiciary officially announced that a French financial judge had opened an investigation into Rifaat al-Assad's accusations because of his suspected involvement in tax evasion and money laundering cases.
2017: The Spanish authorities carried out a judicial operation targeting the assets of the Syrian president's uncle in Spain on charges including money laundering.
4 years imprisonment
November 22, 2019: The judge of the Spanish National Court, Jose Delamata, proposed the trial of Rifaat al-Assad, along with 13 other people, including 8 of his sons and two of his wives, on charges of belonging to an organization that laundered more than 600 million euros in Spain.
June 17, 2020: A French court in Paris sentenced Rifaat al-Assad to 4 years in prison after convicting him of charges including money laundering within an organized gang and embezzlement of public funds in Syria.
The court ordered the confiscation of real estate owned by Rifaat in France, valued at $100 million (€90 million).
- July 17, 2020: "Yediot Aharonot" said that Israeli politicians, businessmen and lawyers provided legal advice to Rifaat al-Assad, including: Plato Sharon, a former member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) from the Likud party, lawyer specializing in international affairs, Zvion Mordechai, and businessman Billionaire Arkady Kaydamak.
December 2020: Rifaat al-Assad did not appear in court and was taken to hospital due to internal bleeding.
August 2021: The Paris Court of Appeal upheld his 4-year prison sentence.
- Rifaat al-Assad may be tried in Spain on suspicion of illegal gain related to more than 500 properties purchased for 691 million euros.
his wives
Rifaat al-Assad married more than one woman, most notably Princess al-Assad and Sana Makhlouf, and the daughter of Trad al-Shaalan (sister of Hessa al-Shaalan, wife of the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud).