The wealthy aunt of Syria’s brutal dictator was secretly granted the right to live in the UK after she promised to invest millions in the country, the ‘Daily Telegraph’ has disclosed.

Her two grown-up children – first cousins of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president – were also allowed to stay.

The woman and her two sons are the wife and children of Rifaat al-Assad, dubbed the “Butcher of Hama”, who earned his nickname after allegedly ordering the killing of up to 40,000 Syrians in 1982.

Rifaat (80) is the uncle of Bashar al-Assad and owns hundreds of properties in France, Spain and the UK, many of which have now been seized. According to recent reports, he faces corruption charges in France.

The decision to give his 63-year-old fourth wife indefinite leave to remain in the UK was made in 2012 at the height of the Syrian civil war and when Theresa May was home secretary.

Her two sons, now aged 22 and 37, were allowed to stay at about the same time. Another son of Rifaat, who has a different mother, was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2014. Rifaat has four wives and is thought to still be married to all of them. He fell out of favour with his brother Hafez, Bashar al-Assad’s father, after a failed coup in the 1980s that led to his exile.

Details of the case are contained in a ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The family had appealed after being denied British citizenship. The court rejected their claim.

The woman, known in the ruling only as “LA”, is, according to the judgment, the fourth wife of Rifaat al-Assad.

According to the ruling, his wife first came to the UK in 2006 and was given “entry clearance as an investor” after she told the Home Office that she was “investing in bonds”.

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