London, Asharq Al-Awsat - High-level French sources have denied reports that Bushra al-Assad, sister of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and wife of Major General Asif Shawkat, is in France, has applied for political asylum in the country, or that her application was turned down.

Answering an Asharq Al-Awsat question about this information, the same official sources said "they categorically deny these reports" and said Mrs. Bushr al-Assad "is in an Arab country" but refrained from naming it.

According to the available information, Mrs. Bushra al-Assad frequented the French capital and the coastal city of Nice. Maj. Gen. Asif Shawkat has "working relations" with some French officials, among them Claude Gueant, the secretary general at the French presidential palace, from the time he was director of the (then) Interior Minister Nicola Sarkozy and until a short time before the French presidential election last May.