Scandal of Syria’s stolen homes: fraudsters use courts to legitimise thefts from refugees

Assad forces said to be in partnership with networks stripping exiles of their property and leaving them nothing to return to

It was through an unexpected phone call from a police officer, telling him he was summoned to court in Damascus, that Abdullah*, 31, discovered his house was being stolen.

He had to abandon his home in 2012, when he fled Syria during a security crackdown on anti-government activists. Now, he was being told to explain to the courts that he had not transferred the house to a distant relative.