Queen Elizabeth II's lawyer managed wealth of Syria's 'Butcher of Hama' Rifaat al-Assad

An investigation has revealed that the late British monarch Queen Elizabeth II’s private solicitor spent eight years assisting in the management of the offshore wealth belonging to the uncle of recently ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Rifaat al-Assad has been dubbed the “butcher of Hama" due to the central role he is believed to have played in the massacre of thousands of Syrians in Hama in 1982.

In 2024, Switzerland formally charged him with war crimes. In Syria he headed a notoriously brutal paramilitary force known as the Defence Companies. He left Syria for Europe in 1984 after a failed coup attempt against his brother Hafez.

However, in 2021, he returned to the country after being found guilty in France of acquiring millions of euros diverted from the Syrian state by the Assad regime.

Despite Rifaat's well-publicised involvement in atrocities, Mark Bridges, also known as the third Baron Bridges, served as a trustee on at least five trusts holding assets on his or his relatives' behalf between 1999 and 2008, investigations by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian have established. 

During this time, Bridges also held one of Britain’s most esteemed legal positions, serving as the solicitor and private legal  adviser to Elizabeth II from 2002 to 2019.

The investigation highlights serious concerns over whether it was appropriate for the monarch’s personal lawyer to assume the ethical and reputational risks of representing a figure whose involvement in mass human rights abuses was widely recognised, even as the origins of his fortune remained shrouded in secrecy.

Had the connection come to light during Queen Elizabeth II’s lifetime, it could have caused significant embarrassment to the crown.

It also raises question on the extent to which prestigious firms are willing to turn a blind eye to individuals who are known to be involved in human rights abuses and are likely to be involved in embezzlement of state assets.

There is no allegation that Bridges, who was knighted in 2019 for his service to Queen Elizabeth II, violated any regulatory rules.

His firm, Farrer & Co, defended his involvement, stating that the trusts were created based on advice from another prominent law firm.

They further claim that all work carried out for Rifaat al-Assad adhered fully to the regulations in place at the time, and that Bridges had been shown evidence intended to dispute the allegations against his client, according to The Guardian.

Rifaat al-Assad built a luxury property empire across Paris, London, and the Costa del Sol, claiming it was funded partly by Saudi royal money.

Using offshore companies and trusts to conceal ownership, he acquired major assets like Witanhurst, London’s second-largest private residence. French prosecutors opened a corruption investigation in 2014, for which he was eventually convicted in 2021.

Although Bridges had stepped down as trustee in 2008, his lawyers said he continued offering limited legal advice to Rifaat until 2015, while complying with regulatory requirements.

In 1982, Hafez al-Assad’s regime crushed a Muslim Brotherhood-led uprising in Hama, with the army and Rifaat al-Assad’s Defence Brigades accused of mass executions and the use of cyanide gas. Estimates suggest 10,000 to 40,000 people were killed. As head of the paramilitaries, Rifaat was believed to have played a leading role.

Allegations of his atrocities were already well known when Bridges began managing his offshore wealth in 1999. Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation in 2013, issued an international arrest warrant in 2021, and formally charged Rifaat with war crimes in 2024. He denies the charges and his whereabouts are unknown.

Given the prominence of Rifaat in the former Syrian regime and documented accounts of and formal investigations into his war crimes and crimes against humanity against Rifaat, there will be questions as to why the firm representing the British monarch were willing to represent him.

The embezzlement of state funds by high-ranking Assad regime officials was also widely known, bringing into question whether the existing regulatory legal framework for financial management is adequate.

"Whether the same decision [to act for Assad] would be made today, in the light of further information now available and, arguably, the more stringent demands of the regulatory environment, is a point on which one might speculate," Farrer said in its response to The Guardian.