The wife of fallen Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad could have her British citizenship revoked, experts have said.
Sir Keir Starmer said it was too early to say whether his government would strip Asma Assad of her status, just hours after her husband was forced to flee Syria for Russia following the collapse of his regime.
But British law allows for the Home Secretary to revoke an individual’s citizenship if they are satisfied that such a move would be “conducive to the public good”.
The president fled to Moscow at the weekend after Syrian rebels entered the capital Damascus and his army surrendered their weapons. It is believed Mrs Assad and their children had arrived in Russia days earlier.
All members of the immediate Assad family have been granted asylum, according to Russian state media on Sunday.
Mrs Assad was born in the UK and went to school in Acton, west London. She graduated in computer science at King’s College London and went to work for Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan in London, New York and Paris, before moving to Damascus full-time.
She knew her future husband in childhood but they became a couple whilst he worked as an eye doctor in London.
UK governments rarely take the decision to strip an individual of their citizenship. In 2019 the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked the status of Shamima Begum, the British schoolgirl who went to Syria to join Islamic State.
Under section 40 of the 1981 British Nationality Act, a Home Secretary “may by order deprive a person of a citizenship status if the Secretary of State is satisfied that deprivation is conducive to the public good”.
Asked about the prospect of Mrs Assad having her citizenship revoked, the Prime Minister said: “We are far too early in any decisions about anything.
“At the moment we are hours, days into a fast-moving situation and that’s why it’s very important for us to continue to talk to our allies, including here in discussions I’ve been having today, to make sure that what happens next is peaceful.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in that, a lot of risks, I absolutely accept, and challenges, but they are going to be best met if we work with our allies towards that peaceful resolution and the rejection, the utter rejection, of terrorism and violence.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel urged the Government to ensure there will be “no asylum claims from former members of the Assad regime in this country”.
She told MPs: “The Conservative government called for President Assad to go over a decade ago, and few will shed any tears at this vile tyrant’s removal from office.”
She added: “While Assad may have sought sanctuary in Russia, we look to the Foreign Secretary to explain what steps will be taken to gather evidence of the crimes his reprehensible regime is responsible for, and the actions being taken to bring him to face justice.
“And in view of the situation in Syria, I’d like to ask the Foreign Secretary what the Government’s assessment is of the implications for the Syrian resettlement program, and can he confirm that despite Assad fleeing to Russia to claim asylum, there will be no asylum claims from former members of the Assad regime in this country, many of whom will be associated with human rights abuses?”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “(Dame Priti) will know that we have not got a diplomatic presence in Syria at this time, and indeed, the Syrians do not have a diplomatic presence here in the UK.
“So recording these actions is not straightforward, but of course, we continue to work, as she would expect, with NGOs and civil society to support them in their efforts.
“And we will see over the coming days and weeks how they are able to both record and hold to account those that kept Syria under this brutal regime, not just in fact, for the last 13 years, but for the years before that, under Assad’s father’s regime as well.”
'President Musk' is flexing his muscles and revealing how weak Trump is