Asma Assad

Asma Assad, the 36-year-old wife of the Syrian president for the past decade offered a veneer of respectability to one of the world's most opaque and ruthless dictatorships. The Syrian government's ferocious crackdown on a year-old uprising has shattered the image of her as a glamorous, reform-minded woman who could help bring progressive values to a country that has been ruled by the Assad family dynasty for more than 40 years.