Exclusive: secret Assad emails lift lid on life of leader's inner circle

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

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 several thousand emails received and sent by the Syrian leader and his wife.

The Syrian leader was also briefed in detail about the presence of western journalists in the Baba Amr district of Homs and urged to "tighten the security grip" on the opposition-held city in November.
...
The Guardian has made extensive efforts to authenticate the emails by checking their contents against established facts and contacting 10 individuals whose correspondence appears in the cache. These checks suggest the messages are genuine, but it has not been possible to verify every one.
...
Assad made light of reforms he had promised in an attempt to defuse the crisis, referring to "rubbish laws of parties, elections, media".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/14/assad-emails-lift-lid-inner-circle

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Quite a lot of it is relatively trivial stuff - spending of the couple (sidestepping sanctions to buy music on iTunes!!!) But some of it, if it's genuine, could be important.

Live updates to reaction: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/mar/15/syria-assad-emails-aftermath-live

[David__77]

1. If it's true, I don't see much of note...

But it appears the couple enjoy a loving relationship.

[jakeXT]

2. I hope everyone knows now for whom Al Qaeda is really working

"It is not out of our interest to say that al-Qaida is behind the operation because this claim will (indemnify) the US administration and Syrian opposition," Mortada wrote not long after the blasts. "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-Qaida is behind the operation. It is a blatant tactical media mistake."

to order a fondue set from Amazon.

I tried it once with cheese and wine, tastes horrible, the Swiss must be high to enjoy this.

[maddezmom]

3. Cache of emails leaked by Syrian rebels reveals married dictator's trio of admirers

Syrian president Bashar Assad will have to answer some difficult questions about his private life after a series of affectionate emails from three women was leaked to the public.

The dictator, who is married to British-born Asma Assad, appears to have received messages from two young public relations aides telling him that they miss him, while a third woman, said to be a jewellery designer, writes: 'I can't see a life without you'.

Another email, which was sent in December and came to light yesterday, contains a photograph of an unknown woman dressed only in white lingerie as she presses herself against a wall.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116653/Married-Assad-s-trio-women-revealed-cache-emails-leaked-Syrian-rebels.html#ixzz1pTIar2Ax

[Fool Count]

4. How come people are being arrested right and left and made

to testify before parliamentary committees and newspapers are closing down over couple of hacks
listening to voicemail massages of few two-bit showbiz C-listers, but it is perfectly alright to steal
and publish thousands of private e-mails of a foreign country's president? I am just wondering what
legal principle is at work here. Is it legal to snoop on all foreigners or only "evil Arab dictators" are
fair game? Or is it the nature of information revealed that makes illegal hacking into legal journalism?
Or is it being a "pro-democracy activist" that renders one immune from any prosecution? Or is it
sending the hacked materials to The Guardian instead of News of the World that makes all the legal
difference? Just curious.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Receiving the contents of hacked emails is not an offence

and neither is publishing them. Thus the papers that published Wikileaks material, or the hacked emails from the climate researchers at the University of East Anglia, are not being arrested. It's those who do the hacking - unauthorised use of the systems, be they emails, voicemails, or others - who get arrested (such as Bradley Manning, or the many Anonymous members recently arrested, as well as the News Corp employees), or those who commission others to do this.

Of course, "couple of hacks listening to voicemail massages of few two-bit showbiz C-listers" is a ridiculous mis-characterisation. Those hacked included the deputy Prime Minister, MPs, and hundreds of people, including grieving families or murder victims, with far more than 'a couple of hacks' paying for it. They are also accused of large, regular bribes to the police and Ministry of Defence employees for information; and of tailing an investigating police officer on behalf of a murder suspect.

The Syrian opposition activists who got hold of these emails almost certainly did break the law - Syrian law. I'm sure Assad would arrest them if he got the chance.

I marvel at a DUer choosing to defend and minimise Murdoch's hacking activities, if it gives them the chance to defend Assad too.