Published December 27,2024
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Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the ousted Syrian chief Bashar al-Assad charged in Switzerland with struggle crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, has flown from Beirut to Dubai in latest days, two Lebanese safety officers mentioned on Friday.
The officers mentioned that “many members” of the Assad household had travelled to Dubai from Beirut and others had stayed in Lebanon since Assad was toppled on Dec. 8. Lebanese authorities had not obtained Interpol requests to arrest them, together with Rifaat, the officers mentioned.
The UAE international ministry didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark. The Lebanese officers mentioned they didn’t know if Rifaat or the opposite Assad relations meant to remain in Dubai or journey elsewhere.
Rifaat, in his late 80s, was brother to Assad’s father, the late president Hafez al-Assad, and led elite forces that crushed a 1982 Muslim Brotherhood rebellion within the metropolis of Hama, killing greater than 10,000 folks. In 2022, the impartial Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) monitoring group alleged that between 30,000 to 40,000 civilians had been killed in Hama.
Switzerland’s Attorney General’s Office has referred Rifaat al-Assad for trial on expenses of struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity over killings and torture in Hama, beneath the precept that every one nations have jurisdiction over such crimes.
This month, Swiss judicial authorities mentioned that they had recommended the trial may very well be shelved because of his unwell well being.
The 1982 Hama assault is usually described because the mannequin for Bashar al-Assad’s later crackdown on the revolt that started in 2011 and toppled him this month. When rebels seized Hama on Dec. 6, their chief Ahmed al-Sharaa referred to it, saying they might “cleanse that wound that has persisted in Syria for 40 years”.
Rifat al-Assad helped Hafez al-Assad seize energy in a coup in 1970, and served as a vp earlier than unsuccessfully difficult his brother for energy and going into exile.
He has lived in Switzerland, Spain and France, the place a courtroom discovered him responsible in 2020 of buying tens of millions of euros price of property utilizing funds diverted from the Syrian state. In 2021 he returned to Syria.
The Lebanese officers mentioned the spouse of his son Duraid and their daughter had been held for making an attempt to journey from Beirut airport on Friday utilizing expired passports that had been tampered with.
Earlier this month, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi mentioned high Assad advisor Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after coming into Lebanon legally. In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi mentioned different Syrian officers had entered Lebanon illegally and have been being pursued.
Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati mentioned on Monday Lebanon would cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by U.S. authorities of struggle crimes beneath Assad.
Source: www.anews.com.tr