Case against Syrian businessmen accused of funding Al Nusra Front dismissed

A judge has dismissed a claim by hundreds of Syrians against two brothers and a Qatari bank they accused of financing Al Nusra Front, after they failed to submit details of the allegations.

The case was brought in 2020 at the High Court in London against Moutaz and Ramez Al Khayyat, who are described as “prominent Syrian/Qatari businessmen”, and the Doha Bank, but since then no evidence has been produced.

Judge Emma Kelly said the delay has been a drain on the resources of the court and that carrying on with the case “is not in the interests of justice”. The Syrians “abandoned any intention they had to pursue this claim for an unacceptable period of time” said the judge, who dismissed as “half-hearted” last-minute attempts to keep pursuing the case.

The claimants, many of whom live in the UK, lost their homes and suffered severe injuries at the hands of the Al Qaeda-aligned extremists, the court was told. Al Nusra Front was formed by the current Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara in 2012. The Syrians alleged the brothers used their account at the Doha Bank to fund the organisation.

Legal proceedings in the UK began against the Al Khayyats and the bank in 2019 when a separate group of eight Syrians sued them in the High Court on the same basis. Those claims effectively came to an end in July 2024 after being dismissed or abandoned.

The current case was brought by 330 Syrians, who have been granted anonymity by the court, but the High Court was told that in the ensuing five years very little has happened.

Al Nusra Front fighters in the Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP

The claimants' only act in that time was to serve a formal claim against Doha Bank, said its barrister, Hannah Brown KC. The bank’s lawyers asked judge Emma Kelly to strike the case out in June on the basis that the inaction on the part of the claimants amounted to