Assad's British wife could face war crime investigation if she returns to London
Share:
Syrian despot Bahsar al-Assad’s wife Asma has filed for divorce in a bid to flee exile in Moscow after her husband’s reign was toppled, according to reports. The 49 year-old former high society beauty - who went from “Desert Rose” to “the First Lady of Hell,”- is apparently unhappy with a life under the control of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She and the couple’s three children were already in Russia when on December 8 her husband finally fled the country he had ruled over with iron brutally for 24 years. There are claims she has been undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood and bone marrow cancer and may need treatment.
Asma had battled and beaten breast cancer in 2018, announcing she was well again in 2019, as her country was recovering from years of war and terror from rebels and jihadists. But hopes of a new life in her home town London may be dashed if she faces investigation for alleged knowledge or participation of war crimes as she is already under sanctions.
More than half a million Syrians have died in the years of violence that followed a 2011 rebellion against the Assad regime - many of them disappeared in mass graves around Damascus. It has been reported that Asma, who played a key role in Syria’s financial structure, is “no longer welcome” in the UK as she is the subject of sanctions placed on her by British authorities.
The new rulers of Syria, led by Mohammad al-Jolani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group have declared all regime figures behind killings and torture will face justice. And for now the Assads are holed up in a regime -controlled apartment complex in Moscow - with the Kremlin denying claims she has filed for a divorce.
