Asma al-Assad

Asma Fawaz al-Assad (Arabic: أسماء فواز الأسد; née Akhras; born 11 August 1975) is the former first lady of Syria, married to Bashar al-Assad. Her husband was president from 2000 until he was overthrown on 8 December 2024. Born and raised in London, to Syrian parents, she holds dual British and Syrian citizenship. She became first lady when she married al-Assad on 13 December 2000, shortly after he became president. Since the fall of her husband's regime, she and Bashar has been living in self-imposed exile in Russia. Asma Fawaz Akhras graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature. She had a career in investment banking and was planning to begin an MBA at Harvard University when she married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. She resigned from her job in investment banking following the wedding and remained in Syria, where their three children were born. As first lady, she played a major role in supporting government organisations involved with social and economic development as part of a reform initiative halted due to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Along with her husband, Assad was considered to be one of the "main economic players" in Syria, controlling large parts of Syrian business sectors, banking, telecommunications, real estate and maritime industries. As a result of the Syrian civil war, Assad was subject to economic sanctions relating to high-level Syrian government officials, making it illegal in the European Union (EU) to provide her with material and financial assistance, for her to obtain certain products, and curtailing her ability to travel within the EU. In the UK, she was a part of a preliminary inquiry within the War Crimes unit of the Metropolitan Police with allegations involving the "systematic approach to the torture and...