Asma Assad, Syria President's Wife, Sanctioned By European Union

BRUSSELS -- Officials say that the EU foreign ministers have slapped sanctions on the wife and other close relatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad in a continuing attempt to stop the violent crackdown on opposition.

They said four members of the Assad family and eight government ministers have been targeted in the latest round of sanctions. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision will be announced later Friday following the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

Asma Assad, 36, was born in London and has British citizenship, and an EU official said that likely meant she could not be banned from travel to the U.K.

The U.N. estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed since an uprising began in Syria a year ago.

________

Raf Casert contributed to this report.

Loading Slideshow

• Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma are seen at the Coupole restaurant in Paris on December 10, 2010. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C), his wife Asma and French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand (L) look at a painting as they visit the exhibition dedicated to French painter Claude Monet at the Grand Palais on December 11, 2010 in Paris at the end of their official visit in France. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma walk in a street of Paris on December 10, 2010. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma deliver a speech to the Syrian Community on December 9, 2010 in Paris. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and his wife Asma attend on November 9, 2010 an official welcoming ceremony in Sofia. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife Asma visit a group of young athletes of special needs gathered at a hotel in Damascus late on September 5, 2010. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

• The President of Syria Bashar al-Assad (R) and his wife Asma al-Assad walk upon arrival at the Maiquetia international airport, in Caracas on June 25, 2010. (MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and his wife Asma (L) arrive at the Elysee palace on July 14, 2008, in Paris, to attend the traditional garden party as part the celebration of the Bastille Day. (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Comments

[duxguts]

01:08 AM on 03/28/2012

The only accessory she deserves is an accessory to crimes against humanity.

[artgardenr]

06:18 PM on 03/25/2012

Asma Assad is a spoiled Western chick used to unlimited shopping forays to Paris. She's would walk over dead babies to grab another bauble for her collection. She may be chic but her high-end wardrobe is splattered with blood. The peasants are at the gate and can't wait to storm the castle while she's saying let them eat cake. Riches to rags, I say. Burial rags that is.

[melinum]

10:26 PM on 03/23/2012

why Asma Assad can not figure out that she is part of a dictatorship rulings who has committed mass murder of his own people calling them terrorists and even though if these protestors are why does Assads and his thugs killing their women and childern without bearing arms and any fightings and still is inhuman and against their land laws and she should be very ashamed being as British citizen to be part of the Assad's family atrocities.

[RomeoMD25]

07:05 PM on 03/23/2012

Syria has been infiltrated by a so called "Rebel Army" (NOT Syrians) and are

PAID Al Qaeda fighters and other terrorist to destabilize Syria for regime change. Total control for international Banksters.

[looneydoone]

08:10 PM on 03/23/2012

Yes

[melinum]

10:16 PM on 03/23/2012

so what you say it seems Al Qadea and his fighters are part of the plots and willings to do the dirty and criminal works in the name of jihads and fighting for them as Bin Laden initially set up its training camps in Afghanistan!

[RomeoMD25]

05:53 PM on 03/25/2012

Im surprised the US has kept its credibility for as long as it has ever since the mess we made in Vietnam. And don't even get me started on Iraq and Libya!

[Culpepper]

06:39 PM on 03/23/2012

I think Marie Antionette comes to mind, but given Antionette's limited education and culture, history can give her a better pass. This woman knows better.

[Hephaestion]

06:36 PM on 03/23/2012

What did she actually do?

And how much did they pay her to marry such an ugly man?

[RomeoMD25]

07:03 PM on 03/23/2012

Who's best for Syria, Assad or the Muslim Brotherhood?

[AKL1985]

08:02 PM on 03/23/2012

MB, no doubt.

[fmeyer11]

06:29 PM on 03/23/2012

she seems to take pride in being a virus

[OEM01]

06:21 PM on 03/23/2012

i hope she is hanged in the streets

[RomeoMD25]

07:06 PM on 03/23/2012

Historically,Arabs have been prone to becoming manipulated.They are simply too susceptible to foreign influence.And this becomes more obvious than ever,if one looks at the chain of events of the so-called "Arab Spring".In reality what we see is a large-scale black operation orchestrated by the US, and the EU.

[tippy301]

12:30 PM on 03/25/2012

Generations of irreparable inbreeding has yielded a volatile & irrational population, clinging to their guns & korans. With the introduction of the petrobuck, their bizarre notions have taken root in blood soaked sand. One wonders if now isn't the time to turn the garden.

[GOVDOESSUX]

06:15 PM on 03/23/2012

government"s CREATE WAR, POWER,GREED,$$$$$$$$$ $ ,WHEN THEY SEND US OFF TO FIGHT THEIR WAR'S WE WANT THEM RIGHT BESIDE US!

[marylou93063]

06:00 PM on 03/23/2012

what a poor excuse of a woman- makes me ill- Jahaush (SP)

[stillmanbd]

05:40 PM on 03/23/2012

Such a pretty Witch!

[NAVRETRD]

05:38 PM on 03/23/2012

THERE IS NO WAY THIS WOMAN AND HER EVIL HUSBAND, con no' relize the depth of their
atriticites and human rights violations. They will rue the day and may wind up like Gadafe, dead as a door nail and maby like Musolini hanging in public to display the cost of their evil.

[lcleveroni]

05:34 PM on 03/23/2012

It is amazing how many people are willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because she's attractive! If she were deemed physically unattractive, people would be relentless on how awful and UGLY she is!

[petcraft]

06:38 PM on 03/23/2012

Sadly, that seems to be the way things go.....

[politeinparis]

05:32 PM on 03/23/2012

This woman causes me to tremble. Frightening. Are they puppets of satan himself?

[fesambay]

05:27 PM on 03/23/2012

Unless the people of Syira get their hands on this woman she will always be rich bitch and always treat people who work for living like dirt as all rich people do.

[mahgni]

06:09 PM on 03/23/2012

What do you consider "rich" fesambay? Most of my friends and I are worth a few million dollars, live in nice homes and enjoy life ... but every one of us worked like dogs when we were young and did without a lot of things that required buying on credit so we could build some cash to work with ... and I don't know a one of them who treat anyone (poor, working, retired, or rich) like dirt of say hurtful things about people like you've just done.

Of course, if you acted like that towards anyone in our presence, we would probably treat you badly ... that's kind of human nature with folks when an idiot is braying.

[AKL1985]

08:04 PM on 03/23/2012

poor rich people :(