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| British Surgeon Reportedly Dies in Syrian Jail | British Surgeon Reportedly Dies in Syrian Jail |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| LONDON — The British Foreign Office said on Tuesday it was “extremely concerned” about reports that a British doctor had died in detention in Syria and that it would hold the government of President Bashar al-Assad responsible if the reports proved true. | LONDON — The British Foreign Office said on Tuesday it was “extremely concerned” about reports that a British doctor had died in detention in Syria and that it would hold the government of President Bashar al-Assad responsible if the reports proved true. |
| News of his death emerged four days before he was set to fly home, according to his family and a British lawmaker who said the physician’s release had been approved by Syrian leaders including Mr. Assad. | |
| The surgeon, Abbas Khan, 32,had been imprisoned for more than a year after traveling to the northern city of Aleppo to help treat civilians, according to the BBC, quoting his family. | |
| His brother, Afroze Khan, 34, said the Syrian security agency had promised that he would be freed this week but when his mother went to visit him on Monday, she was told he had died. | |
| “My brother was going to be released at the end of the week. We were given assurance by the Syrian government,” the brother was quoted as saying. “My brother knew that. He was ready to come back home. He was happy and looking forward to being released.” | “My brother was going to be released at the end of the week. We were given assurance by the Syrian government,” the brother was quoted as saying. “My brother knew that. He was ready to come back home. He was happy and looking forward to being released.” |
| Mr. Khan also criticized the Foreign Office, saying, “We are devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging their feet for 13 months” since his brother’s arrest, only days after he arrived in Syria. | Mr. Khan also criticized the Foreign Office, saying, “We are devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging their feet for 13 months” since his brother’s arrest, only days after he arrived in Syria. |
| In a statement, the Foreign Office said it was “urgently seeking clarification of this from the Syrian authorities. If these tragic reports are true, responsibility for Dr. Khan’s death lies with them and we will be pressing for answers about what happened. “ | In a statement, the Foreign Office said it was “urgently seeking clarification of this from the Syrian authorities. If these tragic reports are true, responsibility for Dr. Khan’s death lies with them and we will be pressing for answers about what happened. “ |
| “We have consistently sought consular access to Dr. Khan and information on his detention, directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others,” the statement said. Requests for information about his welfare, treatment and the reasons for his detention had “consistently been ignored,” the statement said. | “We have consistently sought consular access to Dr. Khan and information on his detention, directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others,” the statement said. Requests for information about his welfare, treatment and the reasons for his detention had “consistently been ignored,” the statement said. |
| Britain’s consular services in Syria were suspended as the civil war widened and the British government became one of the strongest European supporters of the rebels seeking to overthrow Mr. Assad’s government. | Britain’s consular services in Syria were suspended as the civil war widened and the British government became one of the strongest European supporters of the rebels seeking to overthrow Mr. Assad’s government. |
| According to the BBC, the physician had been held at the headquarters of Syria’s national security agency and his mother, Fatima Khan, had finally secured a promise of his release after spending four months in Damascus. But when she went to visit her son on Monday, she was told he was dead. The cause of death was not known, Dr. Khan’s brother said. | According to the BBC, the physician had been held at the headquarters of Syria’s national security agency and his mother, Fatima Khan, had finally secured a promise of his release after spending four months in Damascus. But when she went to visit her son on Monday, she was told he was dead. The cause of death was not known, Dr. Khan’s brother said. |
| When his mother visited him in prison on an earlier occasion, he weighed around 70 pounds, could hardly walk and said he had been tortured, according to the family. | When his mother visited him in prison on an earlier occasion, he weighed around 70 pounds, could hardly walk and said he had been tortured, according to the family. |
| George Galloway, a maverick lawmaker for the small Respect party in Britain, said he had been acting as an intermediary with the Syrian authorities to bring Dr. Khan home and had been planning to fly to Damascus on Friday to collect him. | |
| “I think we will have to wait for clarification on how exactly he died, but this is heartbreaking and devastating news for his family who have been working so hard for so long to secure his release, particularly because his freedom had been agreed and he was due to return with me in the next few days,” Mr. Galloway said. | |
| “I have been in contact with the Syrian government many times, up to and including the president, the foreign minister, the justice minister and other ministers,” he told the Press Association news agency. “Last week I received a call from the foreign minister telling me that the president had asked him to contact me to come to Damascus to bring Dr. Khan home before Christmas.” | |
| “Obviously this had to be kept confidential but the family were kept fully informed,” Mr. Galloway said. “I was in the process of booking a flight for this Friday when I got the appalling news.” | |
| The civil war in Syria, now in its third winter, has been particularly perilous for health professionals. In September the United Nations spoke of the “deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel and transports,” calling it “one of the most alarming features of the Syrian conflict.” By some estimates, more than 100 doctors have been killed and possibly 600 have been jailed. | |
| Dr. Khan went to Syria as its health system crumbled, with many hospitals badly damaged and over one third of them out of action altogether, according to the World Health Organization. In London, he had worked at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital, one of the capital’s leading medical institutions. British news reports said he had traveled without a visa. | |
| Syrian authorities have been profoundly suspicious of foreigners, said by intelligence officials to include several hundred Britons, who have traveled clandestinely to Syria to fight with jihadist groups against Mr. Assad’s forces. But the country’s security agency has long had a reputation for brutality, according to human rights groups. | |
| Amnesty International has said more than 1,000 people have died in security police detention since the revolt against Mr. Assad began in March, 2011. | |
| “We know all too well that the torture of detainees is widespread and committed with impunity by the Syrian authorities, with detainees often crowded into vermin-infested cells, denied urgently-needed medical treatment and even abused by medical staff,” said Kristyan Benedict, an Amnesty International representative here. | |
Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura contributed reporting. |