British MPs want Syrian President’s wife be stripped of her UK Citizenship
A group of British lawmakers are calling on the government to remove the citizenship of Syria’s first lady, Asma Assad, who was born in the UK.
In a letter addressed to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd by some member of Liberal Democrats on Sunday, they said Asma Assad should not be able to retain British nationality and represent her husband after his chemical attack.
Lawmaker Tom Brake said:
‘The first lady of Syria has acted not as a private citizen but as a spokesperson for the Syrian presidency.’
He said Asma Assad should either stop defending Syria’s ‘barbaric acts’ or lose her citizenship.
The question was raised after Assad’s wife posted a photo accompanied by text which came in response to the US missile strike on a Syrian airfield.
‘The presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic affirms that what America has done is an irresponsible act that only reflects a short-sightedness, a narrow horizon, a political and military blindness to reality and a naive pursuit of a frenzied false propaganda campaign,” Asma Assad, who holds dual British-Syrian nationality, wrote.
According to RT News, the UK MPs’ demands are based on the British Nationality Act that outlines the possibility of citizenship deprivation in case a person poses a threat to ‘the public good.’ The provision was enforced in June 2006 and is only applicable to people with dual-citizenship, since a person can’t be left stateless.
