Assad’s ex-PR firm: ‘Regime chose to save itself rather than the country’

In its second story based on exclusive new leaked Sherry Jaafari emails, Al Arabiya English reveals instructions she received from Mike Holtzman, a partner at New York-based PR company, BLJ, relating to the infamous Vogue interview with Syria's Asma al-Assad. (Al Arabiya)

Graphic footage of dead children in amateur videos is not the image Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wanted to be associated with his name; furthermore, it is certainly not the image he paid professional public relations consultants to build.

Years before he began his regime’s bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising by the people of his country, Assad launched a charm offensive that aimed to change his image from what many saw as an oppressive dictator who inherited power from his father to a young transformative leader.

To assist with this task, Assad resorted to the services of a top PR agency based in New York; which, in a statement to Al Arabiya English, now claims that despite its advice for the young president to listen to his people; the “regime chose to save itself rather than the country”.

Sherry Jaafari left Brown Lloyd James (BLJ) to work at the Syrian presidential palace. Her ambition knew no limits. (Al Arabiya)

Brown Lloyd James (BLJ) managed to feature the Syrian first lady in Vogue magazine, calling her a “Rose in the Desert” and showing her in all the glamour usually reserved for princesses of fairytales. The interview was conducted by the magazine’s long-time Paris editor Joan Juliet Buck; who since publishing the interview has parted ways with the Vogue after nearly a 40 year-relationship.

The “Rose in the Desert” story was terribly ill-timed as Asma’s husband’s forces began to kill peaceful protesters. Shortly afterwards, Vogue removed the story from their site (although it can still be found online).

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