Muhammad Bashar Kiwan

Muhammad Bashar Kiwan (Arabic: محمد بشار كيوان; born November 30, 1966), known as Bachar Kiwan, is a Syrian-French businessman, founder of the classified-advertising and media group Al Waseet International (AWI), which at its peak operated in 12 countries across the Middle East and North Africa and published regional editions of magazines including Marie Claire, Top Gear and Fortune. With his partners he also developed ventures in the Comoros, including tourism projects and an economic citizenship program that drew international controversy. Researchers have described his United Group (UG) as aligned with the media interests of the Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad. His businesses collapsed after he fell out in 2016 with his Kuwaiti business partner, a member of the ruling family. Courts in Kuwait convicted him of forgery in 2017 and, in absentia, of money laundering in 2023; a Comorian court convicted him in absentia in 2022 of fraud, money laundering and embezzlement of public funds. Kiwan denies wrongdoing and says the prosecutions were retaliation by the partner, whom he accused of laundering funds linked to the 1MDB scandal; the partner was convicted in Kuwait in the same 2023 case. Kiwan fled to France, where he has since lived openly, and several international bodies have questioned the Kuwaiti proceedings. In 2020 Spain's Audiencia Nacional refused his extradition to Kuwait, citing a risk of torture and possible persecution by the highest organs of the state; in 2023 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found his detention arbitrary and asked Kuwait to remedy it and compensate him; and in 2025 an ICSID tribunal found Kuwait had committed a denial of justice, while awarding him no compensation and rejecting his remaining claims.