Aunt, cousins of Syria's Bashar al-Assad refused British citizenship

The British government has refused to grant citizenship to an aunt and three cousins of Syrian regime head Bashar al-Assad, The Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

The British Home Office was advised by the Foreign Office that issuing citizenship to the close relatives of Assad would be interpreted as a "softening stance towards the regime and of faltering commitment to the opposition", the British daily said.

An appeal by the family members against the decision at a secret immigration tribunal was rejected by the Special Immigration Appeals commission.

Judges involved in the decision said that they did not know how close the aunt and cousins were to Assad, but that the most important consideration was the damage to Britain's reputation if they were allowed citizenship.

Read also: Neither amnesia not amnesty for criminal Assad

Among the applicants was one of the four wives of Assad's uncle Rifaat al-Assad, The Daily Mail reported, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Two of her sons, who have lived in the UK for over a decade, also had their citizenship applications rejected together with a third son of Rifaat by another woman.

Last year, British MPs demanded that the home secretary strip Asma al-Assad, Bashar's wife, of her British citizenship.

Asma al-Assad was born in west London to Syrian parents.

The Syrian conflict began in 2011 when President Bashar al-Assad responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.