The Government has been warned that the British wife of Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad must be banned from the UK for life amid fears she will file for divorce and return to London.
Asma al-Assad, 49, fled to Russia with her dictator husband, 59, when the Assad regime was toppled by rebels in Syria earlier this month.
The couple, whose downfall was celebrated by Syrians at home and around the world, have reportedly been confined to Moscow and their property assets frozen since seeking asylum there.
Turkish media reported on Saturday that Ms Assad, who grew up in North Acton, west London, wants to move back to the UK, where she holds dual nationality, for cancer treatment.Â
No 10 has not commented on whether she should be stripped of her passport, but MPs warned last night that she should not be allowed back to Britain given the atrocities the Assad family has carried out over several years.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told The Telegraph:Â ‘It would be an affront to the millions of Assad’s victims if his wife returned to a life of luxury in the UK.’Â
He added: ‘She has been sanctioned by the UK Government for a reason –Â the Assad family were responsible for some of the worst atrocities in modern times.’ Â
Bashar Al Assad and his wife Asma Al-Assad arrive at official lunch held at the Hotel Marigny in Paris, France on July 14, 2008
Asma al-Assad (pictured in Paris in 2010), 49, fled to Russia with her dictator husband, 59, when the Assad regime was toppled by rebels in Syria earlier this month
This is the house where Ms Assad grew up before she married the dictator and moved to SyriaÂ
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has also previously said that Ms Assad was ‘a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK’.
When asked whether she could have her citizenship stripped to stop her returning to the UK, a No 10 spokesman told The i:Â ‘I think we have always said that we don’t comment on individuals in relation to this.Â
‘But more broadly you will have seen that we have very tough sanctions in place against the Assad family and the former regime, which remain in place.’
The spokesman confirmed Mr Lammy’s statement meant the sanctions that prevent her entering the country remains valid.Â
Ms Assad has had her UK assets frozen as part of an EU sanctions programme in March 2012 amid anger over her husband’s dictatorship.
These sanctions have been upheld since Brexit. And in 2021, the Met Police opened a preliminary investigation into allegations she incited and aided war crimes committed by the Assad regime during the 13-year civil war in Syria.Â
Ms Assad was raised by her cardiologist father and diplomat mother in North Acton before she went on to live a life of opulence as the Syrian First Lady while her husband waged a campaign of terror to suppress his political opponents.
Born in 1975, she enjoyed a gilded childhood before carving out a successful career in international banking.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s wife, Asma, smiles during a reception in Paris during an official visit in 2001
Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad pose during a visit to the Great Wall of China at Badaling on June 22, 2004
Assad’s extended family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
Vladimir Putin (pictured yesterday) offered to house the Assads in Moscow
On the face of it, she was destined for a glamorous career, having been raised by her hard-working Syrian parents.
As a child, she was enrolled at a prestigious public school, Queen’s College, Marylebone, where fees are almost £9,000 a term, before graduating at King’s College London in 1996 with a degree in computer science and French literature.
Not even Ms Assad, who was known simply as ‘Emma’ by friends at school, could have imagined that she would go on to marry an authoritarian president who would rule over Syria with an iron fist. She was later branded the ‘First Lady of Hell’ herself.
She married the deposed Syrian dictator in 2000 when he came over to study in London. They had met on family holidays before.Â
The Kremlin was quick to push back on Turkish media reports that she is looking to leave her husband of 24 years and flee Russia after rebels took control of Damascus following a lightning advance earlier this month.
But pro-opposition political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky warned: ‘Western intelligence agencies are expressing extreme concern about the physical safety of Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian ex-leader Bashar Assad.
‘Life in Moscow, Russia – in a golden cage – is no longer satisfactory for Asma Assad,’ he added. ‘She wants to move to London, UK and return to work in investment banking [and] at the same time, if possible, to remove part of her family’s capital from sanctions.’
Russia is reportedly anxious about the idea of the former first lady returning to Britain, but may here spy an opportunity to harness her skills for espionage.Â
‘Of course, the Kremlin plus Russian special services are wary of such a development,’ Belkovsky said. ‘Unless they really are trying to secretly make Ms. Asma their [deeply undercover] agent in the UK/Euro-Atlantic world. Anything is possible.’
Ms Assad has reportedly already applied to a Russian court for permission to leave Russia for Britain, multiple media outlets including The Jerusalem Post claimed, each citing Turkish and Arab media.
Her application is currently being evaluated by the Russian authorities, according to the accounts, which began circulating on Sunday night.
They suggested that the toppled dictator and his family are under ‘severe restrictions’ in Moscow, with Assad reportedly barred from leaving the city or engaging in political activities.
Assad’s wider family are believed to own dozens of apartments in the Russian capital and he reportedly moved to Moscow some 270 kilograms of gold and £1.6 billion with him when he fled Syria.
But his assets and money in the country are now said to have been frozen, the unconfirmed reports added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov this morning rejected these claims and denied that the former president, a long-time ally of Putin, had been confined to Moscow.
Asked on a conference call if the reports corresponded to reality, Peskov said: ‘No they do not correspond to reality.’
There has been so far no comment on the divorce reports from al-Assad or his wife.
The British government indicated that the sanctions, including a travel ban and asset freeze, would stop her from coming back to the UK.
In Moscow, the Assad clan is linked to luxury properties in both the 990ft City of Capitals complex and the nearby 1,226ft Federation Tower (pictured)Â
Asma al-Assad, 49, is currently exiled in Moscow with the toppled dictator, having left behind their lives of luxury in Syria
Bashar and Asma Al-Assad are pictured meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2005
The Assads, their daughter Zein and son Karim are now all in Russia with Hafez
Ms Assad moved to Syria in 2000 and married the dictator at the age of 25.
The family was offered a safe haven by Vladimir Putin who spirited the toppled president out of Syria shortly before his country fell into the hands of rebels.
Ms Assad and the couple’s three children were already in Russia, 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.
In Moscow, the Assad clan is linked to luxury properties in both the 990ft City of Capitals complex and the nearby 1,226ft Federation Tower.
His extended family own dozens of properties here and elsewhere in Moscow, but it is believed the family now resides in official Russian government accommodation.
The Assad family have strong personal ties to the Russian capital, with the ousted president’s eldest son a PhD candidate at Moscow State University.
Hafez al-Assad, who is in his 20s, defended his dissertation at MSU and became a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, Russian media reports.
The defense reportedly took place on November 29 – a week before his father’s fall from power and during the offensive of Syrian rebels on the second largest city of Syria, Aleppo.Â
Mrs Assad previously attended her son’s graduation in June 2023, with pictures showing her hugging him in front of MSU’s main building and meeting with university officials.
Hafez al-Assad’s work is written in Russian and is 98 pages long. It is devoted to analytical and algebraic number theory, namely issues of polynomials.Â
At the end of the dissertation, Al-Assad expressed gratitude ‘to the martyrs of his homeland – Syria – and first of all to the martyrs of the Syrian Arab Army.’Â
He also expressed gratitude to his parents, Bashar and Asma, to the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy, to the university staff, and to teachers and lecturers from Syria.
The US state department estimates that the family are worth $2billion, with their wealth concealed in numerous accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios.
The Syrian dictator’s extended family bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex
The two-towered skyscraper is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies
In 2012, Wikileaks disclosed Asma Al-Assad’s private correspondence, which showed that she spent $350,000 on the palace’s furnishings and $7,000 on crystal-encrusted shoes.Â
Assad’s relatives the Makhloufs, headed by his uncle Mohammed Makhlouf, have long been considered Syria’s second wealthiest and most important family after his and have significant assets in Russia.
To keep tens of millions of dollars out of Syria as the country’s civil war raged, the family purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district, according to the FT.
The two-towered skyscraper – which until the unveiling of London’s Shard in 2012 was Europe’s tallest building – is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, government ministries, five-star hotels and multinational companies.
