Destruction in Aleppo. Photograph by Aleppo Girls
A British doctor has died in a Syrian prison after more than a year of torture and detention without charge.
Dr Abbas Khan, 32, travelled from south London to Aleppo, Syria in 2012 to help offer medical care to civilians stuck in the city which continues to be a battle-ground in the civil war.
Khan’s brother, Afroze, told BBC News, that they were expecting his release this week, but instead were devastated by the news of his death:
“My brother was going to be released at the end of the week. We were given assurance by the Syrian government.
My brother knew that. He was ready to come back home.
He was happy and looking forward to being released.”
We are devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging their feet for 13 months.”
The Foreign Office have said that they are “extremely concerned” by the reports, and have continually sought information about his detention and pushed for his release through diplomatic links with the Russians and Czechs, even though direct consular services in Syria have long been suspended.
Khan, a father of two, was arrested by regime forces within 48 hours of arriving in Aleppo after leaving his job as an orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London.
His mother has been in Damascus for four months trying to gain access to him, after she found him in a prison weighing just 32kg and barely able to walk due to starvation. He claimed that he was being tortured whilst in prison, where he was being held without charge.
