Syria War: Doctors Targeted by Assad Regime

The alleged murder of Dr. Abbas Khan made me aware that doctors are targeted by the Assad security in Syria.

Dr. Abbas Khan, a British citizen of Indian background, was a 32-year old orthopedic surgeon who had gone to Aleppo as a medical volunteer. He was arrested for not having a visa, jailed, forced to hurt others, and was tortured himself. His family did not know of his whereabouts for six months. His mother flew to Damascus and found Abbas Khan emaciated and in poor health. Abbas Khan was able to give his mother some letters which outlined how dire conditions were in jail.



The British lawmaker, George Galloway, negotiated for his release and was told that Assad ordered the doctor's release before Christmas. However, four days before Abbas Khan's scheduled release, a security service official informed Khan's family that Abbas Khan had committed suicide. His family and a British Foreign Office Minister claim he was murdered.

Abbas Khan was not a unique case. All doctors in Syria are considered dangerous by the Assad government.

 From a Special report from Doctors Without Borders, a doctor says:

"Security is what worries doctors most. It's difficult. The risk of being arrested is big. But despite that risk, many doctors are putting their lives in danger in order to fulfill their medical oath. It is difficult to find sterilized medical materials. Due to our limited means and the numbers of wounded, we have to resort to rudimentary medical practices..."

Another doctor explains the need for field hospitals, which are houses in secret locations:

"To take these patients to the public hospitals is impossible, not just because there are doctors and nurses working for the regime in these hospitals, but due to the fact that in each hospital there is a police unit and they are on the door, and they belong to the different branches of the security apparatus and they apprehend the injured.

"Some of our people were detained. Some doctors are well known who have been in detention for months.

"(We have seen) different forms of injuries (including) bruises due to beating, electric shock, which led to the death. One case was electrocuted in the mouth and they kept electrocuting him until he died. I saw this. I was there standing next to the mosque.
...
"A doctor is now considered more dangerous than those fighting with the (rebel group, Syrian) Free Army, and anyone caught with drugs in his possession, the charges against him are more grave than being accused with possession of weapons.

"The average person is normally taken for days or up to a week, but doctors are detained for months. The doctors are also targeted not just because they treat the injured but also because they are involved with the movement. In the military hospital, those who are considered renegades from the army are tortured and killed."

For the most recent cases, I can tell you, for instance, last week we lost two patients because there was no field hospital in that area and the injuries were gunshot wounds in the chest, so we could not treat them because they needed the proper tools and specialized people.

“Some of our people were detained. Some doctors are well known who have been in detention for months. ( . . . ) [We have seen] different forms of injuries [including] bruises due to beating, electric shock, which led to the death.”

To take these patients to the public hospitals is impossible, not just because there are doctors and nurses working for the regime in these hospitals, but due to the fact that in each hospital there is a police unit and they are on the door, and they belong to the different branches of the security apparatus and they apprehend the injured.
Some of our people were detained. Some doctors are well known who have been in detention for months.
- See more at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/article.cfm?id=5754&cat=special-report#sthash.v3RxDsqz.dpuf

We are forced to use medical materials and perform medical acts that are far from the safe surgical procedures we would usually carry out. Activists and protestors don't really have any medical resources. They don't have ambulances, for example. The injured are transported by their friends and fellow protestors.
When we receive serious casualties, a patient who needs to be hospitalized, we have two options: Either we let him die, or we send him to hospital not knowing what will become of him.
Many hospitals are encircled and placed under tight control when security forces are informed that a casualty is due to arrive from a demonstration area.
- See more at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/article.cfm?id=5754&cat=special-report#sthash.v3RxDsqz.dpuf

Security is what worries doctors most. It's difficult. The risk of being arrested is big. But despite that risk, many doctors are putting their lives in danger in order to fulfill their medical oath. It is difficult to find sterilized medical materials. Due to our limited means and the numbers of wounded, we have to resort to rudimentary medical practices.
We are forced to use medical materials and perform medical acts that are far from the safe surgical procedures we would usually carry out. Activists and protestors don't really have any medical resources. They don't have ambulances, for example. The injured are transported by their friends and fellow protestors.
When we receive serious casualties, a patient who needs to be hospitalized, we have two options: Either we let him die, or we send him to hospital not knowing what will become of him.
Many hospitals are encircled and placed under tight control when security forces are informed that a casualty is due to arrive from a demonstration area.
- See more at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/article.cfm?id=5754&cat=special-report#sthash.v3RxDsqz.dpuf

I invite you to read the 15  testimonies by injured people and doctors from across Syria in the Special Report of Medecins Sans Frontieres. MSF notes the following regarding the Assad regime:

The testimonies reveal the following:

• Casualties such as multiple fractures, gunshot wounds, and electric shocks that strongly suggest a concerted program of violence and torture;
• The merciless persecution and repression of the injured and their caregivers;
• The pursuit of doctors at risk of arrest and torture for treating wounded civilians;
• The monitoring of hospitals by security forces, in order to arrest and torture the wounded;
• The resulting need for many to seek medical care provided illegally in makeshift facilities, including private homes; and
• The lack of even basic medical supplies, including drugs, anesthetics, blood bags, and sutures in places where patients do receive care. 

- See more at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/article.cfm?id=5754&cat=special-report#sthash.ph4vmXKW.dpuf

It's a good reminder that one should never make a deal with the devil. I'm referring to recent media talk that Western powers may have to "start talking to the Assad regime again" because "We don't have another game in town."

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Read also
Syrian Aircraft Pound Aleppo for 4th Straight Day
Abbas Khan: Doctor's Death in Syria 'in effect murder'
Syria crisis: Time to rethink a future with Assad?
Special Report: In Syria, Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution
photos courtesy of Medecins Sans Frontieres and The Guardian

Catching up with news on the war in Syria
The Horror of the War in Syria to the Civilian Population
Poet and Song Writer, Ibrahim Qashoush, Victim of Syrian War
In Solidarity with the Syrian People - Two Revolutionary Poems

tags: Abbas Khan, Syria, Syrian, war, conflict, revolution, doctors, jailed, arrested

This is all for now,
Cecilia