EU issues sanctions against Assad's wife

LONDON, March 23 (UPI) -- The European Union has issued sanctions against the wife, mother, sister and sister-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad, officials said.

Foreign ministers voted Friday to impose the sanctions to increase pressure on Assad to end the violence in his country.

Assad's British-born wife, Asma Assad, and other family member are banned from traveling to the European Union and their assets in EU member countries have been frozen.

Because she has dual citizenship, Asma Assad cannot be stopped from traveling to Britain, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Asma Assad worked as an investment banker in London before she married Bashar Assad in 2000.

Correspondence with her husband and family suggest she is supportive of her husband's actions, the newspaper said. Some 3,000 e-mail messages from the private accounts of the president and his wife were obtained by opposition activists and provided to The Daily Telegraph and other media outlets. The messages included information about Asma Assad's luxury shopping sprees.

Asma Assad has made only one public statement since the crisis began a year ago.

"The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role," she said.