British lawmakers want to revoke the citizenship of Asma al-Assad, Syria's first lady

Citing Asma al-Assad's posts on social media in support of her husband, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Britain's Liberal Democrats are calling on the U.K. home secretary to revoke the passport of Syria's first lady, who was born in Britain.

Tom Brake, foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, has written to Amber Rudd, requesting that she use her authority to rescind Asma al-Assad's citizenship. "The first lady of Syria has acted not as a private citizen but as a spokesperson for the Syrian presidency," he said, and the British government should tell her to "either stop using your position to defend barbaric acts, or be stripped of your citizenship." They have the support of Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi, who said Asma al-Assad is "very much part of the propaganda machine that is committing war crimes."

Asma al-Assad was educated in Britain and worked as an investment banker before marrying Bashar al-Assad in 2000. Following a chemical weapons attack earlier this month in Syria believed to have been carried out by the regime, a social media account for Asma al-Assad posted a message calling the retaliatory strike by the U.S. 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."

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