London-born Asma Al-Assad is said to have a “50-50” chance of surviving leukaemia, but won’t be allowed back to the UK after her passport expired, reports claim
The British wife of exiled dictator Bashar Al-Assad has been effectively barred from returning to the UK, reports claim.
London-born Asma, 49 – said to have a “50-50” chance of survival as she battles leukaemia – is unable to jet back to her homeland after her passport expired. She is believed to be hiding in Moscow with her husband, 59, after his stranglehold over Syria was destroyed by rebels.
The couple were offered refuge by Russian despot Vladimir Putin, 72, as they jetted out of the Middle East as his 24-year reign of tyranny fell. Now, according to a report in the Sunday Times, Asma no longer holds official travel documents and will be unable to come back to her native London to continue her cancer treatment.
Her father, Fawaz Akhras, an eminent cardiologist, left his post at a Harley Street clinic in an apparent effort to care for his daughter full-time. Speculation in recent days has raged that Asma is seeking to divorce her tyrant husband. It is unclear if ministers have proactively blocked attempts by Asma to renew her British passport when it ran out in September 2020, or whether she had allowed it to lapse. She also holds Syrian nationality.
However, Whitehall sources confirmed she no longer holds a valid British travel document and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, would not allow her to enter the UK on the grounds of ill health. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, previously told MPs that Asma, a former investment banker in the City, is “not welcome here”.
Lammy told MPs: “I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK. I will do everything I can in my power to ensure that none of that family find a place in the UK.” Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told The Telegraph: “It would be an affront to the millions of Assad’s victims if his wife returned to a life of luxury in the UK. She has been sanctioned by the UK Government for a reason – the Assad family were responsible for some of the worst atrocities in modern times.”
Asma was born in the UK and raised in Acton, west London, by Syrian parents Fawaz Akhras, a cardiologist at the Cromwell Hospital, and his wife Sahar Akhras, a retired diplomat who served as First Secretary at the Syrian Embassy in London.
Aged 20 she left illustrious King’s College London with a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science and French literature. Yet just four years later, she married Bashar al-Assad, whose family had dictated Syria for more than 50 years.
After recovering from breast cancer in 2019, Asma was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and the blood, in May this year. She has been accused of playing a key role in her husband’s blood-soaked regime. He is said to have ruled with torture and oppression.
