EU court annuls Hala Almaghout’s Syria sanctions listing, finding her to be victim of Assad regime persecution

10/07/25

The EU General Court in Case T-437/23 has annulled the 2023 and 2024 listings of Hala Almaghout on the EU’s Syria sanctions list. 

Ms Almaghout was placed on the EU’s Syria sanctions list in 2023 for being a member of the Makhlouf family because she was a widow of Mohammed Makhlouf, Syrian businessman and uncle of former President Bachar Al-Assad. The General Court annulled her listings because she had provided specific, precise and consistent evidence rebutting the resulting presumption in Articles 27 and 28 of Decision 2013/255 that as a family member she was therefore associated with the Assad regime.  The evidence demonstrated that she was a victim of intimidation and persecution by the former Syrian regime and the Makhlouf family, had no influence over that regime and posed no circumvention risk.

She is still subject to EU sanctions for now because of a 27 May 2025 maintaining act which relisted her on the EU’s post Assad regime sanctions after her General Court hearing and before the judgment was handed down.

The public version of the Court’s judgment is available here.