The wife of the fallen Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad will not be able to return to Britain, where she was born and raised, for cancer treatment, according to a report.
The UK government said it would not permit Asma al-Assad entry if she was to attempt it, after her father told the Daily Beast she wanted to return to the UK because her condition cannot be “adequately monitored” in Russia, where she is now living.
Additionally, The Daily Telegraph of London reported Thursday that she was in a “50-50″ fight with leukemia. She had been announced to have been diagnosed in May.
Assad is currently in Moscow after she and her family were granted asylum by Russia after the fall of her husband, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown by rebels in early December. She had already been in the Russian capital while her husband secretly flew out of his country on a plane provided by Vladimir Putin as rebels reached the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
On Sunday The Daily Mail reported that Asma, who holds both British and Syrian citizenship, no longer has UK travel documents after her passport expired in 2020.
UK Foreign Secretary said last week that Assad is “a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK,” despite her citizenship, according to The Guardian.
Asma al-Assad drew condemnation for standing by her husband as he waged a brutal war against his own citizens. / LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images
Assad, who was once expected to encourage openness and freedom in Syria, drew condemnation for standing by her husband while he bombed, gassed, and tortured his own citizens during the country’s civil war.
To assist her battle with cancer, her father left Britain, where he had a long and distinguished medical career, to be at her bedside in Russia.
In a statement to the Daily Beast last week, he denied that Asma wanted to divorce her husband and then return to the UK.
Rather, she wanted to return to London, he explained, because “her health condition cannot be adequately monitored in Moscow”—although he added, “She is receiving the best treatment possible.”
Bashar al-Assad had fought a brutal civil war against various rebel factions who opposed his authoritarian regime for almost 14 years before his enemies breached Damascus earlier this month, ending his reign.
