Syria’s Assad allows exiled uncle to return to avoid prison

By SARAH EL DEEB and ANGELA CHARLTON

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian pro-government newspaper says that President Bashar Assad has allowed his exiled uncle back into Syria to avoid a four-year prison term in France, where he spent more than 30 years. The 84-year-old Rifaat Assad was sentenced last year for illegally using Syrian state funds to build a French real estate empire. He was tried in absentia and his lawyer had appealed the decision. There was no immediate comment from France. A Syrian pro-government newspaper reported the return of the elder Assad, who fled Syria in 1984 after a failed coup attempt against his brother.