German media reported that the widow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s cousin was beaten in a refugee camp in the German city of Warendorf after she failed to gain the right of asylum there.
The German newspaper Westfalische Nachrichten said that Fatima Massoud, the widow of Hilil al-Assad, had reached the town in the summer of 2016 and applied for asylum in Germany, but that her application was rejected and she was appealing the decision.
The source said, according to statements translated by All4Syria, that she was repeatedly beaten by Syrians in the refugee camp. The newspaper said that Massoud had not informed the local authorities about her family background and had not revealed her connection to thr Syrian president, who the newspaper described as a “dictator.”
The newspaper said that Hilal al-Assad, who was killed in 2014 by rebels, had led a militia which was fighting alongside Assad government forces, and that her son Suleiman had killed an officer in the regime forces in 2015. The Deutsche Welle agency quoted the head of the police bureau in Warendorf as saying that one of Bashar al-Assad’s relatives had submitted a request for asylum to the authorities in Germany.
He said that the woman was the widow of one of President Assad’s cousins and that she had been beaten repeatedly by Syrians inside the refugee camp. He said that the woman currently lived in a refugee camp in the Warendorf area in western Germany.
The police chief said that the asylum request submitted by the woman, who held dual Lebanese-Syrian citizenship, had been rejected and that she had appealed the decision. He said: “We do not know the reason for submitting the application.”
The German newspaper which reported the attacks noted that Massoud was also a victim of the Assad family in Lattakia, noting that one of her relatives had shot at her in 2015.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
