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UNITED
NATIONS (AP) -- The wives of the British and German ambassadors to the United
Nations released a video Tuesday urging the wife of Syrian President Bashar
Assad to stop being a bystander and speak out to demand that her husband stop
the violence now.
The video
asks viewers to sign an online petition to Asma Assad asking that she take a
risk and "stand up for peace ... for the sake of your people."
Huberta von
Voss-Wittig, wife of Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig, and Sheila Lyall
Grant, wife of Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, said in a letter
accompanying the video that as a woman, wife, mother, champion of women's
equality, and formerly vocal female Arab leader, "she cannot hide behind
her husband."
"Her
public voice is needed," they said, noting that many female victims of the
ongoing violence have taken the risk to speak out and stand up for their
freedom.
"We
are asking Asma Assad to take a risk, too, and to say openly: Stop the
bloodshed, stop it right now," Voss-Wittig and Lyall Grant said.
The video
alternates pictures of the stylish 36-year-old British-born Asma with scenes of
Syria's conflict and its victims, including graphic pictures of children who
have been killed or injured in the more than year-long conflict in which more
than 9,000 people have died according to the United Nations.
Before the
Syrian uprising began in March 2011, the Assads often were spotted driving and
riding bicycles in Damascus with their three children. They live in an
apartment in an upscale district of the capital, as opposed to a palatial
mansion like other Arab leaders.
Asma played
a key role in shoring up the image of the authoritarian regime, which the Assad
family has controlled for four decades.
She was the
subject of flattering profiles in Vogue and other fashion magazines. In 2009,
Britain's top-selling tabloid The Sun introduced its readers to the "sexy
Brit" who was "bringing Syria in from the cold."
But as
Syria's conflict worsened, the first lady has become an object of contempt for
many, an image fueled by a trove of emails published in February by London's
Guardian newspaper purported to be from the private accounts of Bashar and Asma
Assad.
They
revealed the first lady shopping online for crystal-encrusted Christian
Louboutin stilettos, expensive jewelry, custom-made furniture and other luxury
goods as violence swept the country.
The
four-minute video - a "Dear Asma" letter - starts out saying
"some women are for style" against a photo of the beautifully coiffed
first lady wearing designer sunglasses, "and some women care for their
people" against a photo of a woman cradling a child surrounded by many
other youngsters.
It says
"some women have forgotten what they preached about peace" followed
by a clip of Asma telling a group of young people "we should all be able
to live in peace, stability and with our dignity."
"One
day, our children will ask us what we have done to stop this bloodshed. What
will your answer be Asma?," the video asks.
Video:
Video:
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| Asma al-Assad has been banned from the EU but may be able to travel into the UK on her British passport. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters |
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