The British wife of Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad would likely have any plan to head back to the UK for medical treatment blocked with reports that she has leukaemia
Bashar al-Assad’s wife may not be allowed back to the UK for medical treatment after confusion over her filing for divorce.
Reports emerged that Asma al-Assad, 49, who is currently exiled in Moscow with the former Damascus dictator wanted to move to London. It was claimed that former first lady was dissatisfied with her life under the guard of the Putin regime in Russia and wanted to return to the UK where she was born, as well as have a divorce.
Asma was already in Russia before the coup to topple Assad, where reports say she has been undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood and bone marrow cancer. One version is that she would prefer to be treated in the UK.
But quickly after these reports emerged, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rubbished them and said: “No they do not correspond to reality.” He also denied that Assad’s family was being restricted where they can stay.
While Asma’s father Fawaz Akhras told The Daily Beast: “I am able to confirm that the reports are false,” over claims that she wanted a divorce and to come to the UK. He added: “She is receiving the best treatment possible.”
And it would appear unlikely that she would be allowed back into the UK, even though she holds a UK passport, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy having said in the past that she is not welcome.
“I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” he told Parliament. He also added he would do “everything I can in my power” to ensure no member of the Assad family “finds a place in the UK”.
While 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 London to Syrian parents in 1975 and spent the early portion of her life growing up in Acton, West London. However, she later swapped British life for Syria in 2000, when at the age of 25 she married her husband just months after he has succeeded his father as the country’s president.
Despite her high ranking role as the first lady, Asma has largely shied away from the public spotlight during her 24 years in the position, sparking much curiosity from western commentators, including Vogue magazine, which in 2011 even controversially referred to her as a “rose in the desert” and suggested she was “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”. The article was later removed.
She was also widely criticised for failing to speak out publicly amid the civil war, despite her husband’s violent repression of pro-democracy campaigners. Around half a million people lost their lives in the conflict, with her husband accused of using chemical warfare against civilians.
In 2016 she famously rejected an offer of safe passage to leave war-torn Syria, when she told Russian-state TV, that she had chosen to stand beside her husband instead and remain in the country. She was later diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, and earlier this year was said to have leukaemia forcing her to step away from the public spotlight.