Rifaat al-Assad has died aged 88 amid an ongoing investigation into his 500-plus properties in southern Spain.
The so-called ‘Butcher of Hama’ was the brother of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.
He earned his nickname for the brutal way he crushed an Islamist uprising in Hama in 1982, before going into exile when his bid to oust his brother and replace him as president failed.
In March 2024, the Attorney General’s Office of Switzerland vowed to put Rifaat al-Assad on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions in Hama – which they claimed killed up to 60,000 people, the majority of them civilians.
Rifaat’s lawyers said in a statement that he had always denied any involvement in the alleged acts.
According to Reuters, he died in the United Arab Emirates, although further details have not been provided.
After fleeing Syria in the 1980s, Rifaat established himself as a businessman in Europe, first in Geneva, then in France and Spain.
But decades later, his wealth came under scrutiny, and in 2020, a French court found him guilty of using funds illegally diverted from the Syrian state to buy millions of euros worth of French property.
His €100m property portfolio was seized in France, alongside a €29m home in London.
But it was in Spain where the true nature of his wealth was revealed.
In 2016, the Guardia Civil’s UCO force began investigating the wealth and assets of Rifaat al-Assad.
They quickly uncovered a property portfolio worth a staggering €700m, mostly in Marbella and Puerto Banus – and an enormous 33 million square metre plot of land in Benahavis.
A source close to the investigation told the Spanish Eye today: ‘He arrived in Spain in the 1980s when money laundering was not prosecuted; the only thing the government was concerned with then was tax evasion and ensuring that taxes were paid… In Jesus Gil’s Marbella, anything was possible.’
The source said he had a ‘network of corporate engineering set up by the most prestigious lawyers and tax specialists’ that helped him ‘move money through tax havens and trusts.’
He said a well-known law firm in Gibraltar is being investigated as part of the probe.
What happens with the Spain trial now?
The UCO source told the Spanish Eye that Rifaat’s criminal liability was ‘extinguished with his death’, but his ‘civil liability was not’.
‘The trial will decide what happens to his seized assets,’ he said.
‘His children are also charged,’ he explained, ‘The trial was set to be held in the National Court, but their lawyers managed to have it declared not fit to try them, and it was sent to the Provincial Court of Malaga. They are now awaiting trial on criminal charges.’
Rifaat’s Spain portfolio
- ‘La Maquina’ estate: Located in Benahavís, it is one of the crown jewels of the network. This large estate was frozen due to its high value, estimated at around €60 million.
- Hotel Park Plaza Suites: Located on the front line of Puerto Banus, it is one of the best-known properties linked to the family.
- Luxury apartments and parking spaces: The majority of the 503 properties are concentrated in Puerto Banus and Marbella’s most exclusive areas.
- Commercial premises and rural estates: The ’empire’ included numerous real estate units managed through shell companies in the names of family members.
