Report: UK won’t permit entry of Asma al-Assad for cancer treatment

British government sources tell London’s The Times that Asma al-Assad, the London-born wife of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, is effectively barred from the United Kingdom as her passport is not valid.

It is unclear if the travel document expired or was actively blocked.

Sources tell the newspaper that because the exiled former Syrian first lady’s passport is not valid, and the British government will not allow her back in on compassionate grounds due to her health, Assad will be unable to seek medical treatment in the UK.

Assad is said to have a 50% chance of survival after an aggressive form of blood cancer is believed to have returned following treatment for the disease earlier this year, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reported earlier this month.

According to the report, the exiled former first lady, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May of this year, is completely isolated in Moscow as she undergoes treatment for the aggressive cancer.

While her husband fled to Moscow after his brutal regime was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive earlier this month, Asma is said to have already been in Russia for some time before that as she was seeking treatment there.

According to The Times, it is thought that her treatment in Moscow is being managed by cardiologist father, who has apparently left his home in London along with his wife.