Asma al-Assad: From Syria’s ‘desert rose’ to international pariah

LONDON (AFP) — Once celebrated as an advocate of women’s rights in the Middle East, Syria’s British-born former first lady Asma al-Assad has fled into exile with her husband, with UK officials saying she is not welcome to return to London.

Asma al-Assad, 49, her husband and three children have sought refuge in Moscow after rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad from power, according to Russian state news agencies, although the Kremlin has not confirmed their whereabouts.

It is just the latest blow to the shredded reputation of a woman whose glamour and charm had been seen in the past as a key asset to the Syrian government.

Asma al-Assad was born in London in 1975 and has spent half her life in the UK, with her parents still living in the west of the capital city.

Queen Elizabeth II receives Asma al-Assad and her husband, then Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad, on December 17 2002, at Buckingham Palace, in London on their first visit to Britain. (KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / POOL / AFP)

She retains British citizenship, but foreign minister David Lammy said Monday that she was no longer welcome in the country, suggesting she may soon lose her UK passport.

“I’ve seen mentioned in the last few days, Asma Assad [is] potentially someone with UK citizenship that might attempt to come into our country, and I want it confirmed that she’s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” he told parliament.

In this photo released on the official Facebook page of Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, second left, and his wife Asma, center, and their children Zein, left, Karim, right, and Hafez walk outside the Great Mosque of Aleppo, also known as the Umayyad Mosque, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria, July 8, 2022. (Syrian Presidency Facebook page via AP)

Asma al-Assad had her UK assets frozen in March 2012 amid growing protests against her husband’s rule, as part of a European sanction program that London maintained after Brexit.

The UK has previously stripped citizens of their nationality for joining the Islamic State group, Bader Mousa Al-Saif, a researcher at the Chatham House think tank, told AFP.

“If that could be happening to an unknown in an extremist camp, I think the same, if not more, warrants for the case of Asma al-Assad,” he added.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that it was “far too early” to discuss such a measure, while Minister Pat McFadden told the BBC that “we have had no contact” with the former first lady.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (center) and his wife Asma al-Assad (left) attend the opening ceremony of the 2022 Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on September 23, 2023. (Philip FONG / AFP)

Road to Damascus

Asma al-Assad was born to cardiologist father Fawaz al-Akhras and retired diplomat Sahar Otri, both from Syria.

She grew up in the leafy west London neighborhood of Acton where the Akhras still live, although some UK media reported Monday that they were thought to have flown to Russia to be with their daughter.

Asma al-Assad attended a local primary school, where she went by the name of Emma, before studying at the prestigious Queen’s College private school.

Asma Assad, the wife of the Syrian president, gesturing as she speaks during a meeting at the International Diplomatic Academy in Paris, December 10, 2010. (AFP/MIGUEL MEDINA)

She later graduated from London’s King’s College University with a degree in computer science and French literature before moving into finance, working at Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.

It was in this line of work that she met Bashar al-Assad in the late 1990s, and the couple married a few months after he succeeded his father, Hafez, as Syrian president in July 2000.

The couple have two adult sons and a daughter, with the eldest recently graduating in mathematics from the University of Moscow.

The Syrian presidency announced in May that Asma had leukemia, having already been treated for breast cancer between 2018 and 2019.

‘War profiteer’

Asma al-Assad is from a Sunni family whereas Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Shiite Alawite movement, which — along with her promotion of women’s rights — helped burnish her reputation as a transformative and modernizing first lady.

Feted by the Western media for her looks and style, Asma became the toast of high society, hosting celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie while enjoying a lavish reception overseas.

Fashion bible Vogue called her the “Desert Rose.”

Syria’s first lady, Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, picks roses during the Damascene Rose Harvest Festival in the village of al-Marah in the mountainous region of Qalamoun, Syria, on May 25, 2023 (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)

But her reputation crumbled when she stood by her husband’s side as he cracked down on anti-government protests that erupted in 2011, turning into a full-scale civil war in June 2012.

She was heavily criticized for remaining silent during the violence and was dubbed “Marie Antoinette” and “predator in chief.”

Detractors also accused her of enriching herself through the Syria Trust for Development, a charity she founded that centralizes most of the funding coming from abroad.

She and her husband also took charge of many parts of the Syrian economy using frontmen, according to news site Syria Report.

In 2020 the United States imposed sanctions on Asma al-Assad, her parents and two brothers, with then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo describing her as “one of Syria’s most notorious war profiteers.”