The seriously ill wife of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has reportedly been banned from returning to Britain for cancer treatment after her passport expired.
Asma al-Assad, 49, will not be able to return to her native London without her official travel documents, amid reports that she is seriously ill with leukemia and has only a 50-50 chance of survival.
It comes after her famous cardiologist father Fawaz Akhras left his Harley Street clinic in what appears to be a bid to care for his daughter, who fled to Russia following the collapse of her husband’s brutal regime.
There has been speculation in recent days that Asma plans to divorce Assad and return to Britain to continue her vital cancer treatment.
However, Whitehall sources have confirmed that Asma, who is also a Syrian national, no longer holds valid British travel documents after her passport expired in 2020.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also stated that the government will not allow her to return to the country as the decision “cannot be based solely on health reasons.”
Earlier, Foreign Secretary David Lammy told MPs that Asma, born and raised in Acton, west London, “is not welcome here”.
Asma became Syria’s first lady in 2000 after marrying 59-year-old Assad in Syria the same year he took control of the country following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who died at the age of 69. died.
Asma al-Assad, 49, will not be able to return to her native London without her official travel documents, amid reports that she is seriously ill with leukemia and has only a ’50-50′ chance of survival
Asma is currently exiled to Moscow with the toppled dictator after leaving their luxurious lives in Syria
Bashar and Asma Al-Assad are pictured meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2005
This is the house where Assad grew up before marrying the dictator and moving to Syria
Queen Elizabeth II receives Asma al-Assad and her husband, then Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, at Buckingham Palace in London on December 17, 2002 during their first visit to Britain
Critics believe she orchestrated a secretive labyrinth of committees and policies, led by her accomplice, that controlled everything from internet access to reduced food rations.
Her empire also extended to the distribution of foreign aid; in fact, she controlled who got what and when.
As her role within Assad’s dictatorship grew, she was unable to maintain her early image of the liberated woman operating at the heart of power in a Muslim country.
She became one and the same with the terrible oppression of the Syrian people by the Syrian regime.
Her role in Syria’s financial policy also earned her the widespread, unenviable nickname of ‘Lady Macbeth’, from rebels and commentators alike.
In 2012, Asma was placed under British and EU sanctions, which included an asset freeze and a travel ban, after she was believed to have played a key role in supporting Assad during Syria’s civil war, which began with opposition protests in 2011 and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Asma is currently exiled to Moscow with her husband and three children after they were granted asylum by Vladimir Putin when rebels took control of Damascus in a lightning advance on December 8.
But the former first lady, who has left a life of luxury behind her, is said to be dissatisfied with her new life under the surveillance of Putin’s regime and reportedly wants to return to London.
Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma walk down a street in Paris on December 10, 2010
Ms Assad, who has dual Syrian-British nationality, undergoes cancer treatment in Moscow (photo 2010)
Assad’s extended family has reportedly purchased at least 18 luxury apartments in the City of Capitals complex, located in Moscow’s glittering skyscraper district
She has applied to a Russian court for permission to leave Russia for Britain, which is being assessed by Russian authorities.
Reports suggested the toppled dictator and his family are under “severe restrictions” in Moscow, with Assad reportedly banned from leaving the city or engaging in political activities.
Assad’s wider family is believed to own dozens of apartments in the Russian capital. He reportedly moved around 270 kilos of gold and £1.6 billion to Moscow with him when he fled Syria.
But his assets and money in the country are now believed to be frozen, according to unconfirmed reports.
After recovering from breast cancer in 2019, Asma was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the bone marrow and blood, in May this year.
Last week, The Telegraph reported that she had been given a ’50-50′ chance of survival and was being kept in isolation to avoid catching an infection from others.
“Asma is dying,” a source close to the Akhras family told the newspaper. “She can’t be in the same room as anyone else.”
Another source said: ‘If leukemia comes back it’s brutal. The last few weeks she has been 50-50.”