Syria: Assad family 'selling off overseas property empire'

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Pastor Dale Morgan

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Oct 7, 2011, 1:57:04 PM10/7/11
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Perilous Times

Syria: Assad family 'selling off overseas property empire'


A multimillion pound property empire that includes flats and houses in London is being sold off and turned into hard cash by members of Syria's Assad family, it has been reported.

By Nabila Ramdani
The Telegraph UK

5:55PM BST 06 Oct 2011

Properties include a £10 million town house in Mayfair bought by Rifaat al-Assad, the so-called 'Butcher of Hama', who is accused of leading a massacre of up to 40,000 people 30 years ago.

His nephew, Bashar al-Assad, is currently leading a ruthless and bloody campaign against pro-democracy campaigners. The UN human rights office on Thursday raised the tally of people killed during seven months of unrest to more than 2,900.

The selling off of the property suggests the Assads are liquidating their assets in the chance the regime is forced from power in Syria.

London property belonging to toppled dictators Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, was seized soon after they fell.

According to the French satirical and current affairs magazine Charlie Hebdo, Rifaat, Bashar al-Assad's uncle, "has sold off his huge property portfolio in the United States, London, Spain and France", with the clan wanting to "liquidate their oversease homes as quickly as possible". The liquidation of the properties was reportedly being carried out by two of Rifaat's four wives, as well as his children.

The magazine, which has obtained official bank documents confirming the transactions, says that two "huge lots" belonging to the Assads in Puerto Banus, the marina town on Spain's Costa del Sol, are on the market for up to £600 million.

Even this figure has been discounted by many millions, suggesting that the Assads are eager to get rid of their property as quickly as possible.

Rifaat al-Assad, 73 and the former vice president of Syria, moved into a Georgian mansion off Park Lane in 2009.

Although he has never been indicted by an international court for the Hama massacre in 1982, there are numerous independent accounts of his alleged involvement. Rifaat, who spends most of his time living in France nowadays, denies the claims. He was unavailable for comment.

Asma al-Assad, the wife of Bashar al-Assad, is a UK passport holder who was born and raised in London, where her parents still live, and where she still owns homes.

: 12 people were killed in clashes between soldiers and deserters in villages of northwest Syria yesterday, rights groups have said.

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