A cousin of Syria's President Bashar Assad has lost his legal bid to get a visa for Switzerland, where he wanted to meet with a lawyer to challenge international sanctions imposed against him. Switzerland's supreme court rejected Hafez Makhlouf's request, saying the 40-year-old army colonel could use other means like a telephone to speak with his Swiss lawyer.
The verdict published Thursday was reported Sunday by Switzerland's NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. Makhlouf petitioned Switzerland's Federal Tribunal in September after his name appeared on Swiss and European Union sanctions lists imposing asset freezes and travel bans on senior member's of Assad's regime. The sanctions were a response to Syria's brutal crackdown against opposition protesters, which the United Nations estimates has cost more than 5,000 lives since March.