Asma al-Assad and the tricky role of the autocrat's wife
Asma al-Assad and the tricky role of the autocrat's wife By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Magazine Should Mrs Assad disown her husband? Asma al-Assad has been condemned for supporting her husband, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as the bombardment of her family's home city, Homs, goes on. But do autocrats' wives ever rein in their husbands? The first public intervention of British-born Asma al-Assad, 36, since the uprising began in Syria nearly a year ago was an email from her office to the Times newspaper in London . In it she expressed her support for her husband, the president, while stating that she "comforts" the "victims of the violence". It's estimated by human rights groups and activists that more than 7,000 people - 2,000 members of the security services, and 5,000 others - have been killed in the unrest, and Syrian opposition supporters promptly condemned Mrs Assad's &qu