This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/world/middleeast/syria.html
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| British Surgeon Reportedly Dies in Syrian Jail | British Surgeon Reportedly Dies in Syrian Jail |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| LONDON — The British Foreign Office said Tuesday that 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 accounts proved true. | |
| News of the death of Abbas Khan, a 32-year-old surgeon, emerged four days before he was expected 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. | |
| Mr. Khan had been imprisoned for more than a year after traveling to the northern city of Aleppo to help treat civilians in November 2012, according to 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 that he had died. | 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 that he had died. |
| “My brother was going to be released at the end of the week,” Afroze Khan told the BBC. “My brother knew that. He was ready to come back home. He was happy and looking forward to being released.” | |
| A spokesman for George Galloway, a maverick lawmaker and the only member of the small Respect party in Parliament, said Syrian officials had told him that prison wardens who had taken breakfast to Dr. Khan on Monday had returned to check on him two hours later and found him hanging by his pajama bottoms from a hook in his cell. | |
| Hugh Robertson, a minister in the Foreign Office, told the BBC that the circumstances of his death were extremely suspicious and that a British national had “in effect” been murdered in Syria. | Hugh Robertson, a minister in the Foreign Office, told the BBC that the circumstances of his death were extremely suspicious and that a British national had “in effect” been murdered in Syria. |
| In an earlier statement, the Foreign Office said it was “urgently seeking clarification of this from the Syrian authorities.” | In an earlier 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,” 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.” | |
| 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, the Syrian capital. But when she went to visit her son on Monday, she was told he was dead. | 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, the Syrian capital. But when she went to visit her son on Monday, she was told he was dead. |
| When his mother saw him in prison on an earlier occasion, the family said, he weighed around 70 pounds, could hardly walk and said he had been tortured. | When his mother saw him in prison on an earlier occasion, the family said, he weighed around 70 pounds, could hardly walk and said he had been tortured. |
| Mr. Galloway 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. | Mr. Galloway 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,” Mr. Galloway said, “but this is heartbreaking and devastating news for his family, who have been working so hard for so long to secure his release.” | “I think we will have to wait for clarification on how exactly he died,” Mr. Galloway said, “but this is heartbreaking and devastating news for his family, who have been working so hard for so long to secure his release.” |
| “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 said in a statement. “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.” | “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 said in a statement. “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.” |
| The civil war in Syria, now in its third winter, has been particularly perilous for health professionals. In September, the United Nations reported that hospitals, medical personnel and transportation vehicles had been deliberately targeted, calling it “one of the most alarming features of the Syrian conflict.” By some estimates, more than 100 doctors have been killed and up to 600 have been jailed. | |
| Dr. Khan went to Syria as its health system crumbled, with many hospitals badly damaged and more than a 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, including several hundred Britons, who have traveled clandestinely to Syria to fight with jihadist groups against Mr. Assad’s forces. Dr. Khan’s family has denied that he had sympathies with rebel forces. | |
| Syria’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. | Syria’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,” said Kristyan Benedict, an Amnesty International representative here, “with detainees often crowded into vermin-infested cells, denied urgently needed medical treatment and even abused by medical staff.” | “We know all too well that the torture of detainees is widespread and committed with impunity by the Syrian authorities,” said Kristyan Benedict, an Amnesty International representative here, “with detainees often crowded into vermin-infested cells, denied urgently needed medical treatment and even abused by medical staff.” |
Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura contributed reporting. | Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura contributed reporting. |