Britain is told to ban Assad’s wife from UK over fears of her return

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. 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 : ‘It would be an affront to the millions of Assad’s victims if his wife returned to a life of luxury in the UK.’ He added: ‘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.’ 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: ‘I think we have always said that we don’t comment on individuals in relation to this. 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. 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.

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. 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 ($11k) a term, before graduating at King’s College London in 1996 with a degree in computer science and French literature. Pictured: The family home of deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma parents cardiologist Fawaz Akhras and his wife Sahar.

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. 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.

‘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 ($2B) 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.’

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