bashar as father was still in power when my brother just appeared without a trace he was twenty one and had gone to the seaside with a friend his friend returned but my brother didn't he was never found but if you live in syria you know what's meant by that few women. it was a very clear warning to my father from the old regime because he had become politically active he has had. the ear of fear seem to come to an end when bashar assad became president. in his first speech he announced economic reforms promised social reforms and even spoke of democracy it was an encouraging message for the many syrians who dreamed of freedom. in what are they out but in two thousand something finally happened in this country

people started to meet and debate there were political events the first ones were called national dialogue and took place in my father's house it was always packed. hundreds came to debate about anything that was on their mind they wanted to talk about syria just like. you could feel how great the longing was to be involved and bring about change at long last. meeting let me tell fals. six months off to he entered office the young president appeared for the first time in public with his wife from england. it was a mystery to say in the first few months because we heard about this lady coming from london. very fashionable. not only beautiful she was clever sentence very good studies in london she was working in

a major bank etc. to leave all this to go to syria. why she did that what was behind it who was she. she contributed to this protester profile greatly because she was you know obviously fluent in english british accent or grew up in the west very elegant cosmopolitan woman who was determined to play a different type. role as first lady of syria then her mother in law that was very much behind the scenes you know they both were young at the time. so she very much contributed to this image that bashar and his wife would take syria in a different direction. i met her and she said to me what do i need to do to be

a good first lady and i said i don't know but it was very fashionable time laura bush had been going around the middle east and. africa as well running first ladies conferences so they were wives of political leaders. and she said i'd like to be a first lady and do what i have to do i said we have to have a program have to have some to work for you have a budget you have to set up an office and you do things and you know when you come and do it for me that's a choice if you want to add to that site why i got involved. as not i last i didn't just want to be a good fast lady she also wanted to be a first lady who was accepted in the west it wasn't long before she started organizing conferences for the first ladies from neighboring countries something which had been on i don't think damascus.

i'm going away the first i would say that. this is huge great palace and i had to come in and walk through the great marble holes and past fountains and go and there's a tiny room in the corner where she sat and i was in there and i thought there's nobody else in the place it's a completely empty palace above me. and me and i want to pick up a coffin it took forever to get a cup of coffee but you know that's the way it is. there was a there are suspicion from the government people who are keeping their eye on it and make sure should get out of control and they get their own media make sure i didn't encourage it to get out of control so there were there was sort of a slight feeling of being watched and. i saw her last times and we discussed ways of creating the first lady's office. had vision was a combination of doing good things in syria she was worried about poverty she was

worried about people who had been left behind by the progress and she wanted to be seen to be a good person that's what she did if you got me back you've got a much more i. should go to is round serious seeing people discussing it is a bit like as a royal tour. i think. she was a good talent at the time she's clearly not a good look back at that time she was very very cooperative very helpful very pleasant to say paid on time i probably. the investment paid off as soon mastered her role of the perfect fast lady to me as after the start of his presidency she accompanied by shah to her hometown london it was his first official visit to britain it was a success for the couple that included meeting with the prime minister and the

queen. first to this is the site. itself is a very busy time. if . you didn't used. to it. but. of course you can use. a small side was received like a start her own school she had made something of herself she was now a first lady beautiful and rich. one had to is. their behavior clearly signaled where similar to europe it's always pleasant for europe to have heads of state like that who think alike and even in the thing. the idea was people who come

across like us who like the same things as we do could also share our political views and minds and i wanted to conquer. the political interest of the west in collaborating with bashar al assad was however based on fear. the fear of islamist terrorism. we condemn totally anybody who's in gauging terrorist activity of any sort at all wherever in the world. i do however believe it's important to engage with syria because syria is going to be an important part of building a peaceful and stable future in the middle east and i mean if that remote or little hope for thought i don't know how i will feel. well if you know what as for the issue of terrorism syria is known for its fight against terrorism for the last decades and not just for the last few years have item on. they want to signal to

europe we are a very good partner for you he expressed that explicitly in the fight against terrorism. that was an issue where assad could associate closely with the west and say you are natural partner in the region is right here he wanted to motivate europe to come towards him. but they before they leave he told me that. it says a lot about the communication of the regime because. this photo on the first page of the magazine was forbidden in syria because the regime didn't want syrians

to see the president i guess it's very it's very interesting that was an image let's say for abroad that was for europe but for syria. the president should not be . human or a father. or someone nice to say. i think he did want some level of political reform and the big yeah but i think he realized and he was advised and he accepted the view that this could cause chaos that could cause instability and chaos can overthrow the regime. while they are sides presented themselves in london as the bring as of hope for the middle east political change back home in syria was being put down by the government the regime had a new face but it was the same brutality there were no photographs or films

capturing this. fear that his family his clan could lose power he had only important opposition leaders including riad saif arrested by the secret service who they had done was to meet up and debate. keep going it may be a trick to yes i was shocked and afraid that they kill him at the same time his arrest meant that it was over as mike. gone was the hope of freedom and democracy. and. everything we had dreamed of was over that the. riyadh saif was sentenced to five years in prison for subversive activities the west reacted with a note of protest. i wouldn't get belief and everyone was briefed by the foreign ministries that this was a repressive regime that there were massive human rights violations and the prisons

were full of political prisoners who were coming under. and then you went there and it was lovely. damascus is a beautiful city with a lovely location near mt. the old town is delightful and the restaurants were full . yeah. we asked where is their repression. and that why is everything so bad. so. sad appeared in public as a pleasant person you enjoyed watching and listening to it was a pleasant young man with a western background that he didn't have the as a rule or. he came across as relaxed and as likable. he didn't come across as the head of a repressive regime. and she emphasized the likeable impression her husband made.

thank. you know. when he went to the opera with his wife people clapped one thousand one hundred. one hundred you got the impression they loved him we diplomats allowed ourselves to be seduced. and anyone who wanted to know about bashar al assad's human rights violations didn't know about them it was totally clear that he was a dictator and that the regime hadn't changed. there were enough reports about what was going on behind the scenes for anyone who wanted to see what was happening. with. the swiss not the diplomat the e.u.

representatives also knew that you had to choose do we need assad for our own interests is it really important to talk about the conditions in the prisons all the time or can we ignore that for now and talk about trade deals and the opening of the syrian markets which have to place him. coming out of quote from i can remember one time where she swept me away along with others it was during a female entrepreneurs convention in damascus schools. she made the opening speech that contained the ideas that had been expressed in london paris and brussels about the need to create open markets about promoting competition to achieve affluence for the population a great speech for one of our. own government i just thought this is the woman who worked as a finance analyst don't you bank the j.p.

morgan it was great i don't know which journalist it was who called her the lady di of the orient. was here or in the division of. public and she was good at public relations this comparison was apt. on these and. the she was a darling. in. march two thousand and three the united states invaded iraq under the pretext that the iraqi dictator saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction president bush wanted to topple him as the direct neighbor of iraq the syrian regime felt threatened assad feared it could be in the americans interest to so end the assad era in syria. bashar al assad was familiar with the west's fear of islam as terrorism he knew

that for as long as this threat existed he would be needed as a partner in the fight against the terrorists and he the dictator would always be the lesser of the two evils be a year later at madrid central station almost two hundred people died in what was the biggest islamist terrorist attack in europe to date the syrian president and his wife expressed their condolences. this is an interesting moment two thousand and four it's the railway station that's right at the same time where they went to the station to put a candle to. a thought for the victims of terrorism at the very same time. the assad regime was supporting the jihadist where working in iraq. and. i mean

it was our time then what is today you know it's as. though it's it's a very interesting. photo because it says. that bashar was offering to the west at something like i can protect you from it's me or so or isn't. why do you prefer the alternative to me as these people you want them. it's a very good insurance so keeping power is to say ok i can leave but you will have these people this do you love. that many european leaders. believed or accepted but it was neglecting twenty two million syrians. assman meanwhile established a whole network of seemingly independent organizations for women's rights education

and young people this commitment and her international admiration but she was a part of the regime part of the lie. i hope you don't think the people who are not critical of that not complaining about the government and complaining about service haven't been about economic crisis people here complain as much as they do anywhere else and whilst that that's not true i think what we're trying to and i know what we're trying to achieve ensure that they're not just complaining but they are part of the solution. so she had their fingers dream ambition but on the same moment the prisons were the same the torture was to listening. openness were arrested. detained sometimes without even trying at such and such also the regime. change that much but she had this public image maybe that

was that you could hide the rest. under bashar al assad through the syrian regime and soon became as dark and into maine as it had ever been it wasn't just political prisoners who were in danger but also anyone who was close to them who loved them that was the strategy of the secret service. that we can have that debate they constantly threatened my father and told him to his face that he had already lost one son. but that he still had a daughter and another son whom he could lose very easily to. it's unbelievable. had. we lived in a police state or a dictatorship we were worth nothing. they had control over our lives there was no law we could call upon to protect us because she we didn't even have

the right to dissent. and life is still like that in syria to this day i hear that . the people are tortured in syria's torture cellars and its prisons until they say there's no other god but bashar that's the sentence the secret service police want to hear it's a god like status they also give bashar to many of them have a tattoo of his portrait on their body he's their god they work for him and that's their reality. doesn't believe he does if you're going to.