Syria: Calls to strip Asma al-Assad of her British citizenship

Syria: Calls to strip Asma al-Assad of British citizenship

Many voices in the UK has been calling that Bashar al-Assad’s wife should lose her British citizenship if she continues to support her husband and cover his crimes against the Syrian civilians.

The Syrian crisis began as a peaceful demonstration against the injustice in Syria. Assad regime used to fire power and violence against the civilians and led to armed resistance. 450.000 Syrians lost their lives in the past five years according to UN estimates, and more than 12 million have lost their homes.

In on of Assad’s latest crimes, more than 87 civilians were killed in Syria in a new chemical attack carried out by Assad regime’s air force on the rebel-held Idlib province on April 4.

Medical sources said that more than 300 other civilians were injured in this attack, and many of them were transferred to hospitals near the Turkish borders or inside Turkey, where poison tests were made.

In a sharp escalation of the U.S. military role in Syria, two U.S. warships fired dozens of cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the airbase controlled by Assad regime forces from which the attack as carried out.

Trump ordered the strikes just a day after he pointed the finger at Assad for this week’s chemical attack.

“Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.”

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump said on Thursday.

Russia condemned the strikes, saying Washington’s action would “inflict major damage on US-Russia ties”, according to Russian news agencies.

But the US allies, especially the UK, backed this move, calling for more pressure on Assad regime and blaming Russia for backing Assad accusing Putin of taking part in killing the Syrian civilians.

Stripping Asma of British citizenship

Asma al-Assad, who was born in the UK, has used her social media accounts, which have more than 500,000 followers, to attack the West and praise the Syrian regime’s “martyrs”.

The Liberal Democrats have said they will send a letter to the Home Office demanding that the former investment banker’s citizenship is revoked.

The party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Tom Brake, said the first lady of Syria had acted as a spokesperson for the Syrian presidency, which has been accused of using chemical weapons against its own people.

“This is a barbarous regime, yet Asma Assad has continued to use her international profile to defend it, even after the chemical weapons atrocity,” Brake said.

“Boris Johnson has urged other countries to do more about Syria, but the British government could say to Asma Assad, either stop using your position to defend barbaric acts, or be stripped of your citizenship.

“The Government is entitled to deprive someone of their citizenship if it is conducive to the public good because that person has prejudiced the interests of the United Kingdom,” he added.

The Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi backed the call, saying she was “very much part of the propaganda machine that is committing war crimes”.

She has used social media to support her husband’s presidency after the global condemnation of his alleged role in a chemical weapons attack on civilians.

After the US counterstrike on the regime, a message was posted on one of her accounts saying: “The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic affirms that what America has done is an irresponsible act that only reflects a shortsightedness, a narrow horizon, a political and military blindness to reality and a naive pursuit of a frenzied false propaganda campaign.”

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has the power to take away Assad’s citizenship under the British Nationality Act if the move is deemed to be “conducive to the public good”.

Brake has argued it would be “vital” to the interests of the United Kingdom to do so.

“As the Assad regime has presided over a sickening civil war that has brought instability to the region and enabled terrorism to flourish, the justification seems clear.