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Family of British surgeon who died in Syria criticises UK government Family of British surgeon who died in Syria criticise UK government
(about 4 hours later)
The family of a south London surgeon who died in a Syrian jail 13 months after being imprisoned has accused the UK government of not doing enough to secure his release. The family of a south London doctor who died in a Syrian jail after 13 months in captivity have accused the UK government of not doing enough on his behalf, claiming the Foreign Office failed to distinguish him from Muslim jihadists fighting to bring down the Assad regime.
Abbas Khan, 32, from Streatham, was detained after travelling to Aleppo to work in a field hospital in November last year. His brother said his mother went to visit Khan, who had been due to be released shortly, in jail in Damascus on Monday but was told he was dead. Abbas Khan, 32, from Streatham, was detained after travelling to Aleppo to work as an emergency surgeon in a field hospital in November last year. His mother tried to visit Khan, who had been due to be released shortly, in jail in Damascus on Monday but was told he was dead.
The Syrian government says Khan killed himself but the family have rejected that explanation and the UK Foreign Office said the Syrian regime had "in effect murdered a British national". Despite Syrian government claims that Khan killed himself, the UK Foreign Office said the Syrian regime had "in effect murdered a British national".
Despite the strong criticism of the Syrian authorities, Khan's family said the government had not provided them with help when they needed it. The trainee orthopaedic surgeon's family say British diplomats abandoned him.
His brother Shahnawaz Khan told the BBC: "It is interesting for the Foreign Office to take that line now. We have been telling them for 13 months that this is a very real possibility. And they have treated his case like he's been some wayward traveller in Dubai being caught drunk, and contravened some trivial law in Syria. "This [the UK] is one of the most powerful countries in the world. They could have used their power on the world stage to do something but he had no intrinsic value to them," said his brother Shahnawaz Khan. "They lumped him with random jihadists. An innocent man who went to help innocent civilians in a foreign country has been executed and abandoned by his own country."
"The fact that this individual was out there helping the humanitarian effort and has been held for 13 months against his will, without a charge or a trial or access to a lawyer, and they have offered very little assistance, placated us throughout." He said he was not accusing the government of racism but "the political value of a British Muslim with facial hair is low. If he was a white female journalist things at a much higher level would have taken place." The Foreign Office said it had consistently sought consular access but its efforts were rebuffed.
He said the death of his brother, who worked at the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital, had brought "utter despair" to the family but they were proud that he died doing something he believed in. Khan, a father of two, was arrested by government forces two days before he was due to return to the UK, ostensibly for travelling without a visa. For months the family were in the dark about his whereabouts until his mother, Fatima, travelled to Damascus in the summer and found him languishing in jail. She said he could barely walk, his weight had dropped below five stone (32kg) and he had been tortured.
The father-of-two was arrested by government forces within 48 hours of arriving in Aleppo to work as an emergency surgeon. For months the family were in the dark about his whereabouts until his mother, Fatima, travelled to Damascus and found him languishing in jail. Shahnawaz Khan said the fact she located his brother within four weeks of arriving in the Syrian capital illustrated that the government had not done enough. "My mother is a 56 or 57-year-old woman from south London, who didn't speak the native tongue, no education above A-levels, had never travelled abroad on her own … it's a damning indictment of the Foreign Office," he said.
She said he could barely walk, his weight had dropped below five stone (32kg) and he had been tortured. Last week his family said he was depressed and might harm himself, but Shahnawaz Khan said he was in "high spirits" as he had told he was to be released and wrote to them saying he was looking forward to coming home and spending Christmas with them. He said the Foreign Office had limited itself to written representations which were slow to reach the Assad government because the UK had no diplomatic relations with Syria and so they were made through the Hungarian consulate. When the Hungarian consulate closed, a fact Khan's brother said the Foreign Office was oblivious about until being informed by the family, officials then made representations through the Czech consulate. Khan's release, which was expected on Friday, had been secured by the family with the help of individual MPs and peers but without Foreign Office input, said his brother.
Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, said Khan had used his pyjamas to hang himself. But Shahnawaz Khan described Mekdad's claim as "utter nonsense and I would ardently deny anything of that scenario". He categorically rejected the Syrian government's claim that his brother had killed himself, insisting he was in good spirits, looking forward to his release.
George Galloway, the Bradford West MP, said he had been negotiating for months with the Syrian government over the release of Khan and had been due to fly out on Friday to bring him home, after receiving a call from the Syrian foreign minister informing him that the president, Bashar al-Assad, had ordered Khan's release. Khan was married with a son, Abdullah, aged seven and daughter, Ruqquaya, who is six. He was part of a close-knit family of seven brothers and sisters, whose father died four years ago. His younger sister Sara said that even when working in Cumbria he would come down to see his mother in London every weekend and that he lived for his children.
"He was a very loving character," she said. "His children meant everything to him. The life of a doctor is very hectic but he devoted his time to them, always taking them out." Shahnawaz Khan said his brother's ethos of helping those less fortunate ran through the family. He was on his second trip to the region when he was arrested.
"When he first went in August he said: 'This is horrendous, it's an atrocity. If the world won't wake up to this, it's going to take people like us,'" Shahnawaz Khan said. The family were wary of the dangers but understood his motivation. "We've had our heart and soul ripped out," he said. "What do we tell his children?"
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was in "regular contact with Dr Khan's family and providing consular support to them. We have consistently sought consular access to Dr Khan and information on his detention, directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others. In November, minister [Hugh] Robertson wrote making clear our concerns about his welfare and treatment, stressing that the regime's failure to provide any information that would indicate Dr Khan's continued detention is legitimate meant his position should be reviewed immediately. These requests have consistently been ignored."
She added that the Foreign Office continued to advise against all travel to Syria.
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