Shop, shop, shop
Assad's wife shops while protests rage, leaks reveal
Private emails allegedly from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad have been leaked. Photo: AFP
SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule, according to a cache of what appear to be thousands of emails received and sent by Dr Assad and his wife.
The Syrian dictator was also briefed in detail about the presence of Western journalists in the Baba Amro district of Homs and urged to ''tighten the security grip'' on the opposition-held city in November.
The revelations are contained in more than 3000 documents that activists say are emails downloaded from private accounts belonging to Dr Assad and his wife, Asma. The emails also appear to show that:
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■Dr Assad made light of reforms he had promised in an attempt to defuse the crisis, referring to ''rubbish laws of parties, elections, media''.
■A daughter of Qatari emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani this year advised Asma al-Assad and her husband to leave Syria and suggested that Doha may offer them exile.
In late March last year, Syrian opposition activists say, a young government worker in Damascus handed a scrap of paper to a friend with four handwritten codes that the friend was instructed to pass to a small group of exiled Syrians who would know what to do with them.
Activists say the details allowed uninterrupted access to the two email inboxes until the leak was discovered in February.
They appear to show that Mrs Assad splashed out on more than $14,900 worth of candlesticks, tables and chandeliers from Paris and instructed an aide to order a fondue set from Amazon.
Emails from the Syrian first lady's account are typically signed off with ''AAA'' - corresponding to Asma al-Assad - or ''Alia Kayali'', the name of the company secretary whose identity activists believe she hid behind.
Tony Carpenter, who runs a bespoke furniture firm in West Sussex, England, sold ''Alia'' a designer Baxter Gilbert table in November. The table cost £6257. ''I had no idea,'' Mr Carpenter said. ''The furniture went to Dubai.''
On December 30, while anti-government protesters demonstrated in Aleppo, Hama, Damascus and Daraa, Mrs Assad appears to have sent the President options for BulletBlocker armoured clothing disguised as a blazer and a link to the VIP Armour website.
The emails show that ahead of a speech in December, Dr Assad's media consultant prepared a list of themes, reporting that the advice was based on ''consultations with a good number of people in addition to the media and political adviser for the Iranian ambassador''.
The President also received advice from Hussein Mortada, an influential Lebanese businessman with strong connections to Iran.
In December, Mr Mortada urged Dr Assad to stop blaming al-Qaeda for an apparent twin car bombing in Damascus, which took place the day before an Arab League observer mission arrived in the country.
''I have received contacts from Iran and Hezbollah in my role as director of many Iranian-Lebanese channels and they directed me to not mention that al-Qaeda is behind the operation,'' Mr Mortada wrote not long after the blasts. ''It is a blatant tactical media mistake.''
Throughout 2011, Mrs Assad appears to have kept up correspondence with the Qatari emir's daughter, Mayassa al-Thani. But relations appear to have chilled early this year when she directly suggested that the Syrian leader step down.
''I honestly think this is a good opportunity to leave and re-start a normal life,'' Sheikha Mayassa wrote on January 30.
''I only pray that you will convince the President to take this opportunity to exit without having to face charges. The region needs to stabilise but not more than you need peace of mind. I am sure you have many places to turn to, including Doha.''
Much of Dr Assad's media advice comes from two young US-educated Syrian women, Sheherazad Jaafari, the daughter of Syria's ambassador to the UN, and Hadeel al-Ali. Both regularly stress to Dr Assad, who uses the address sam@alshahba.com, the importance of social media and intervening in online discussions. At one point, Ms Jaafari boasts that CNN has fallen for a name that she set up to post pro-regime remarks.
Several weeks after the sam@alshahba.com email was compromised in February, a new Syrian state television channel broadcast two segments denying that the email address had been used by Dr Assad.
Opposition activists claim that this was a pre-emptive move to discredit any future leaking of the emails.
GUARDIAN
How the cache of emails were verified
Why does The Guardian believe the emails are genuine?
The 3000 emails reveal information - including family photographs and documents - that would be difficult for even the best-resourced hoaxer or intelligence agency to gather or fabricate.
What has been done to verify the emails?
The Guardian has contacted 10 people whose emails appear in the cache. All have confirmed the time and content of the emails or refused to deny they are genuine.
Does this rule out the possibility of fake emails in the cache?
No. However, none of the checks has contradicted activists' claims about the emails.
What is the evidence that ''Sam'' is Bashar al-Assad?
There are several email conversations in which ''Sam'' and Bashar are clearly identified as the same person. In November, Hadeel al-Ali, Dr Assad's press assistant, emailed about an interview Dr Assad had given to a student activist, Hussam Arian, six months earlier. She said to ''Sam'': ''I took many shots of the page of Hussam Arian and the article he wrote about you.''
Why does The Guardian believe it is justified in publishing private correspondence?
A number of disclosures, including evidence of Assad taking advice from Iran, are of clear public interest. Given the nature of the Assad regime's crackdown on the Syrian people, the extent to which he and his wife have managed to sustain their luxurious lifestyle is also of public interest. The Guardian did not solicit the material.
GUARDIAN
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Dictators' wives never know when to stop shopping. Looks like FLOM too will continue shopping even when Najis falls.
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