Asma al-Assad faces Syrian war crimes investigation in U.K.

IslamNews – Police in the United Kingdom have opened an investigation into allegations that Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, incited and encouraged “terrorist” acts in Syria.

Al-Assad, a dual British-Syrian national, could be stripped of her UK citizenship if convicted of the crime, according to media reports.

The Metropolitan Police told UK media outlet Sky News on Sunday it “received a referral” in July last year “relating to the ongoing Syrian conflict”.

“The referral is in the process of being assessed by officers from the War Crimes Unit,” the statement said.

The case against al-Assad was brought by Guernica 37, a conflict-focused international justice law firm that also deals with “transnational litigation involving the enforcement of fundamental human rights protection”.

“This is an important step in holding senior political officials accountable for their acts and ensuring that a state, through an independent and impartial legal process, takes responsibility for the acts of its own nationals,” Guernica 37 said in a statement on its website.

“As [she] is a British national, it is important that she faces prosecution if the evidence supports the allegation and not merely stripped of her citizenship. This is an important process and it is only right that justice is served before an English court.”

Source: Aljazeera