Asma Assad Added To EU Sanctions Blacklist After Controversial Spending Revealed

A week after details of her controversial spending sprees surfaced, Syria's first lady Asma Assad is being dealt another blow. The Daily Telegraph reports that Assad is about to join her husband on an European Union sanctions blacklist.

A spot on the sanction list, which already includes President Bashar Assad and 113 other Syrian individuals, will result in the freezing of Asma's assets and bank accounts in any EU countries as well as a travel ban within EU territory.

Adding the first lady as well as other Assad family members is "part of efforts to maintain the pressure on the Syrian government," an EU official told the Guardian anonymously.

It also sends a message to those angered by her recent spending. As the Telegraph notes, Asma has been under a more watchful eye after last week's email leaks. The correspondence between she and her husband, revealed to the Guardian, revealed numerous lavish purchases made while Syria's civil war raged. Among the purchases were diamond jewelry from Paris, crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin heels and expensive items from Harrod's.

As an anonymous opposition party member told the Telegraph, "They have stolen Syrian money. She is squandering it here in London."

Elaborate first lady shopping sprees rarely go over well -- especially when the first lady's country is plunged in disastrous turmoil.

For more about the fallout from Asma and Bashar Assad's emails and the details of the new sanctions, head to Telegraph.co.uk.