French court finds Bashar al-Assad's uncle guilty over property fraud

The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was found guilty of acquiring millions of euros worth of French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state and sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday.

The French court also ruled that all of Rifaat al-Assad's property in France be seized as well as a property worth 29 million euros in London.

Assad is a former military commander, widely held responsible for crushing an Islamist uprising in 1982 against then-president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father. Many thousands were killed.    (Reuters)