The Arab World's First Ladies of Oppression

THE GUARDIAN: Their husbands have run some of the most brutal regimes of the Arab world. But who are the women who stand by the dictators?

In December 2010, the French first lady Carla Bruni sat down to lunch under the gold chandeliers of the Elysée palace with Asma al-Assad, wife of the Syrian leader Bashar. As they sat demurely with their husbands around a butterfly-print tablecloth dominated by a pastel flower-arrangement, a photographer was ushered in to grab a picture for French celebrity magazines. After all, this was a communion of fashion's high priestesses: a former Italian supermodel turned folk-singer entertaining a Chanel-loving, London-raised, former banker and conveniently westernised Middle Eastern first lady. French Elle had recently voted Asma "the most stylish woman in world politics", Paris Match called her "an eastern Diana", a "ray of light in a country full of shadow zones".

Only days after the lunch, a desperate Tunisian vegetable seller would set himself alight, sparking the first revolution of the Arab spring. Already, as the Sarkozys' butlers served the Assads crystal glasses of freshly squeezed juice from silver platters, there was unease among certain diplomats about the French president schmoozing the ruler of an oppressive dictatorship known for torture, brutality and political prisoners. But Nicolas Sarkozy, an expert on the importance of photogenic wives in politics, saw Asma as his insurance policy. "When we explained that this was the worst kind of tyrant, Sarkozy would say: 'Bashar protects Christians, and with a wife as modern as his, he can't be completely bad,'" the former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner later confided to journalists.

Now, after 11 months of bloody repression of the pro-democracy uprising in Syria, with thousands dead and tens of thousands of refugees spilled over Syria's borders, Asma's careful public-relations strategy as the gentle British-born face of the regime has crumbled. When she appeared smiling and immaculately dressed on Sunday alongside her husband to vote in a referendum on a new constitution, it only deepened opposition accusations that she has become a modern-day Marie-Antoinette. The row over a shockingly fawning, lengthy puff-piece in American Vogue last year depicting Asma's Louboutin shoes and charity work, as well as a recent appearance at a rally hugging her children in support of her husband and an email to the Times explaining her backing of him, has reopened the debate about the role of dictators' wives in the Arab spring.

"Every revolution has its Lady Macbeth," sighed one Middle East expert in Paris. The dictators' wives are all very different, united by the varying degrees of hatred they inspired, eye-watering fortunes, expensive wardrobes and often a state-sanctioned so-called "feminism" or, like Asma al-Assad, charity work as a public distraction against the brutal realities of the regime. » | Angelique Chrisafis | Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Syriens First Lady Asma al-Assad: Die Schöne und der Schlächter

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Ist sie das skrupellose Luxusweibchen eines Herrschers im Blutrausch? Oder eine weltoffene, reformorientierte First Lady, die hilflos mit ansehen muss, wie ihr Land im Bürgerkrieg versinkt? Selbst Syrien-Kenner rätseln, welche Rolle Baschar al-Assads Ehefrau Asma in Damaskus spielt.

"Asma al-Assad ist glamourös, jung, sehr schick - die frischeste und magnetischste aller First Ladies. Sie ist eine seltene Mischung: Eine schlanke, schlaksige Schönheit mit einem analytischen Geist, die sich mit überlegtem Understatement kleidet. 'Paris Match' nennt sie 'das Element des Lichts in einem Land voller Schattenzonen.' Sie ist die First Lady von Syrien."


Man könnte noch ganze Passagen aus dem hymnischen Porträt der 36-jährigen Ehefrau Baschar al-Assads zitieren, mit dem sich das amerikanische Modemagazin "Vogue" im vergangenen März in die Nesseln setzte und das inzwischen von der Web-Seite der Zeitschrift entfernt wurde. Das Stück liest sich heute wie ein langer, schlechter Witz. Denn noch während die Ausgabe, in dem die Assads so gepriesen werden, an den Kiosken lag, erhob sich das syrische Volk gegen sein Regime. Die glitzernde Fassade des jungen Präsidentenpaares, von der sich die "Vogue"-Journalistin hatte blenden lassen, begann zu bröckeln.

Heute, zehn Monate nach Beginn des Aufstands gegen Assad und sein Regime, sind weit mehr als 5000 Menschen ums Leben gekommen, in Syrien herrscht Bürgerkrieg. Vor allem in Großbritannien fragen sich die Leute, was Asma al-Assad von all dem hält. Denn Syriens Präsidentengattin ist Britin. » | Von Ulrike Putz, Beirut | Mittwoch 01. Februar 2012

Related »

Syria: Bashar al Assad and Family 'Will Be Killed Like Gaddafi'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Syrian President Bashar al Assad, his British wife Asma and their family will meet a bloody end 'like Gaddafi' as his regime falls from power, a leading member of the opposition movement has warned

Haitham Maleh, a member of the executive committee of the Syrian National Council, told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Assad had forfeited any chance of a peaceful exit from Syria as a result of his regime's brutal crackdown on protesters.

The former judge, who has spent decades in Syrian prisons for his human rights activism, predicted that Mr Assad, his wife and three children would be killed in revenge for his failure to respond positively to peaceful demands for change.

"Assad and his family will be killed in Syria, their next steps will be very bloody," he said. "Two months ago we offered him the option to leave us alone and go but instead he went for the blood of his people. The end for him will be that he is killed like Gaddafi."

Persistent reports have emerged around the Middle East that Mrs Assad has sought to return to England - or at least flee the fighting in Damascus - with her three children, Hafez, Zein and Lareem. Al-Masry-Al-Youm reported yesterday that she was among a group of family members including the president's mother and cousins that was driving to the airport to leave but forced to turn back by an opposition ambush. » | Damien McElroy | Monday, January 30, 2012

AL-MASRY AL-YOUM: Syria's first lady falling from grace: Not so long ago, she was the darling of the international press, described as a "rose in the desert" and "a ray of light in a country full of shadow zones." ¶ But today, Syria's first lady is being likened to a modern-day Marie-Antoinette, drawing criticism for staying mum on a crisis that has left more than 5,000 people dead in her country. » | Saturday, January 14, 2012

Arab First Ladies: Short Skirts, High Heels & Wind in the Hair
Photo of the Lebanese and Syrian first ladies, Waafa Sleiman (left) and Assma al-Assad, caught in a gust of wind in a welcoming ceremony in Damascus. Image courtesy of the BBC
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’First Lady’ of Cuba Dies

Photo of Vilma Espin, the ‘first lady’ of Cuba, courtesy of the BBC

BBC: Vilma Espin, wife of Cuba's acting president Raul Castro, has died in Havana, aged 77, state TV reports.

She was a key figure in the Cuban revolution and the long-standing head of the Cuban Women's Federation, which works to advance women's rights.

Born into a wealthy family, she fought as a guerrilla alongside Fidel Castro and his younger brother Raul in the Sierra Maestra mountains.

She married Raul in early 1959 and was often described as Cuba's "first lady".

Espin reportedly died after a long battle with illness. Cuba’s ‘first lady’ dies aged 77 (more)

Mark Alexander