Abdel Hamid Al Assaf, a Syrian activist and businessman, appeared in court this week expecting to respond to a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Mohammed Hamsho, a powerful tycoon under U.S. sanctions. Instead, he learned that the case had been quietly withdrawn.
The lawsuit was officially dropped shortly after Mr. Al Assaf arrived at the courthouse, according to a document presented to the presiding judge. A copy of the filing, later reviewed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), offered no explanation for the decision.
The lawsuit, which centered on a defamation charge—the least serious of six allegations—followed Al Assaf’s public criticism of Hamsho’s return to Damascus despite remaining under international sanctions. Hamsho filed the complaint after Al Assaf shared a photo of him walking through the capital under state security escort and called on authorities to bring him to court.
Al Assaf believes mounting media scrutiny and public backlash prompted the businessman to back down.
“[Hamsho] does not want any attention to himself,” Al Assaf said.
Hamsho, 59, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2011 and was later blacklisted by the U.K. and EU for his close ties to the Assad regime. He is accused of profiting from Syria’s destruction by trading rubble from bombed neighborhoods and allegedly operating as a front for Maher al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s brother and the former head of Syria’s elite Fourth Armored Division—an entity also linked to the country’s notorious Captagon trade.
The legal dispute began on April 21, when Syrian authorities formally notified Al Assaf of the case. But tensions had been building since January, when Al Assaf discovered that both Hamsho and his son Amro—also sanctioned under the U.S. Caesar Act—had returned to the capital.
Two months later, Al Assaf said he was summoned to a police station under the pretext of a routine meeting. There, he was allegedly pressured into signing a restraining order favoring Hamsho under threat of detention. He later learned the document was a police report, falsely stating he had confessed to defaming the tycoon and accepted the charges.
News of the lawsuit sparked public outrage in Syria, where critics questioned how a known war profiteer could not only return openly but also attempt to use the legal system to silence dissent.
In one sign of the backlash, a video of Al Assaf speaking about Hamsho went viral, prompting a group of civilians to gather outside Hamsho’s home and shout in protest.
“In a way, just talking about Hamsho’s return must have brought him a lot of unwanted attention,” Al Assaf said. “Perhaps he dropped it out of concern for backlash.”
As someone long associated with the Assad regime, “[Hamsho] doesn’t want to be portrayed as the person who made this very huge insult of coming back and then added to it by challenging the Syrian people in court,” he added.
Syria’s Justice Ministry declined to comment on the dropped case.
“This case does not concern us,” said Malek Abdullah, a media officer for the ministry. “It’s a case between two people that will be resolved by the assigned judge, and the ministry has nothing to do with it.”
OCCRP contacted Hamsho’s wife and his legal representative for comment on the withdrawal, but received no response by the time of publication.
Hamsho is not the only regime-linked tycoon reported to have returned to Damascus. In February, he and fellow sanctioned businessman Samer Foz allegedly met with senior members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—the group now governing Syria following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. Both reportedly pledged support for the transitional government’s efforts to dismantle Assad-era business networks.
While Hamsho is reportedly still moving freely in Damascus, media reports suggest Foz left Syria for the United Arab Emirates after negotiations with HTS collapsed.
Last month, the United States and European Union announced limited sanctions relief for Syria, framing it as a step toward reconstruction and economic recovery. However, the EU simultaneously extended its sanctions on Assad-linked individuals and entities through June 2026, stating the move was “in line with its call for accountability and its support for a peaceful transition,” according to the EU Council.
