Exiled dictator Assad’s ‘Desert Rose’ wife Asma BARRED from UK return amid cancer treatment and divorce rumours
BASHAR al-Assad’s wife Asma has been effectively barred from returning to the UK.
The 49-year-old – who was born in London – will be unable to return home as her passport has expired.
Asma, her weedy tyrant husband, and their family are currently living in exile on Moscow.
The couple fled the collapse of Syria as Assad’s two decades in power were wiped away in a matter of days by rampaging rebels.
Russian despot Vladimir Putin – a friend of the family – offered them refuge as they desperately escaped in the Middle East.
But since their exile, there have been reports Asma wants to return to the UK – and may even be seeking divorce.
Asma is reportedly suffering from leukaemia and has only a 50/50 chance of survival.
But without official UK travel documents she will be barred from returning home, reports The Times.
Asma is believed to have played a key role in her husband’s blood-soaked regime.
She indulged in a luxurious lifestyle and ensured her power and comfort while Syria’s people were brutally oppressed.
The couple sat on thrones built on war crimes, murder, torture, chemical weapons, massacres and unmatched cruelty.
It is reported she seeked to come back to Britain without Assad so could continue her cancer treatment.
And her cardiologist father, Fawaz Akhras, has reported left the UK to care for his daughter full-time in Moscow.
Whitehall sources she is no longer in possession of a valid British passport – that expired in September 2020.
But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will reportedly not allow her to enter the UK on the grounds of ill health.
It is unclear if the UK government has actively blocked Asma’s attempts to renew her passport, or if it was allowed to lapse.
The revelations about her passport come amid calls for her to be stripped of her citizenship for her role in Assad’s blood-soaked regime.
Asma, known for her intelligence and charm, is said to be dissatisfied with her life under Putin’s thumb in Moscow.
She is said to be undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood and bone marrow cancer.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has previously said Asma was no longer welcome in the UK, implying she may soon lose her UK passport.
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 and raised in London and she and Bashar had previously lived in the city together.
If they were banned from the UK, the exiled first family of Syria face being trapped in Russian tyrant Putin’s “golden cage”, a Russian political analyst has warned.
Pro-opposition political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky claimed that Asma wanted to return to London and go back to investment banking.
He said: “Life in Moscow, Russia – in a golden cage – is no longer satisfactory for Asma Assad.
“Western intelligence agencies are expressing extreme concern about the physical safety of Asma.”
How Assad’s Brit-born ‘Desert Rose’ wife became 'First Lady of Hell'
By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter
DEPOSED dictator Bashar al-Assad’s British-born wife was once seen as a symbol of freedom and woman empowerment in the repressive Middle East.
But it did not take long for Asma al-Assad, who was described as a “Rose in the Desert” for her elegance and charm, to become a hallmark of oppression while serving as the “First Lady of Hell”.
The former first lady of Syria is now in exile in Russia after Islamic rebels toppled her butcher husband’s regime, ousting the dictator and his family.
Born in England in 1975, Asma is the daughter of Fawaz Akhras, 78, a consultant cardiologist, and Sahar, 75, a diplomat at the Syrian embassy.
She grew up in a £1million mansion in West London and graduated with a computer science degree from King’s College.
It was in the early 90s when Asma met Assad while vacationing in Syria.
The couple is said to have fallen in love when the future tyrant moved to London to train as an ophthalmologist.
They got married in 2000, the same year when Assad suddenly inherited Syria’s dictatorship after his brother and heir to the regime Bassel died in a car crash.
As the first lady of Syria, Asma – who does not wear a burqa or a veil to cover her face – left a strong impression of an independent woman on the world stage.
She told a friend that she was the “real dictator” in the family, according to The Telegraph.
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