The UK Government has been urged to stop the British wife of Syria’s deposed tyrant Bashar Al- Assad from ever entering the country again.
Asma al-Assad, 49, fled to Russia after her husband’s brutal regime was overthrown by Syrian rebels.
However, reports circulating in Turkish media suggest she now wants to return to Britain for cancer treatment.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has called on Downing Street to bar her from returning to the country.
He told The Telegraph: “It would be an affront to the millions of Assad’s victims if his wife returned to a life of luxury in the UK.
“She has been sanctioned by the UK Government for a reason – the Assad family were responsible for some of the worst atrocities in modern times.”
Previously, Foreign Secretary David Lammy also said that Mrs Assad was “a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK”.
A No 10 spokesman told The i: “I think we have always said that we don’t comment on individuals in relation to this.
“But more broadly you will have seen that we have very tough sanctions in place against the Assad family and the former regime, which remain in place.”
Mrs Assad – who grew up in North Acton, London – had her UK assets frozen as part of a European Union sanctions programme in March 2012 amid growing protests against her husband’s rule.
These sanctions have been upheld since Brexit. In 2021 the Metropolitan Police then opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that she incited and aided war crimes committed by the Assad regime’s forces during Syria’s 13-year civil war.
The US also imposed sanctions on Mrs Assad, her parents and two brothers in 2020.
Mike Pompeo, who was Secretary of State at the time, called her “one of Syria’s most notorious war profiteers”.
The Kremlin was forced to deny media reports on Monday that Mrs Assad was looking to divorce her husband and leave Russia.
Asked about the reports in a news conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, they do not correspond to reality.”
He also denied reports that Assad had been confined to Moscow and that his property assets had been frozen.
However, the Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky contradicted the Kremlin line, saying: “Western intelligence agencies are expressing extreme concern about the physical safety of Asma Assad, the wife of Syrian ex-leader Bashar Assad.
“Life in Moscow, Russia – in a golden cage – is no longer satisfactory for Asma Assad.
“She wants to move to London, UK and return to work in investment banking [and] at the same time, if possible, to remove part of her family’s capital from sanctions.”
