Two ex-detainees that were in prison with the British doctor Abbas Khan have confirmed that Dr Khan was killed at the hands of the Syrian Security apparatus, denying the official Syrian claims that he took his own life. In an interview conducted by the BBC, one of the ex-detainees said that Khan would keep notes on the torture he was subjected to. When he would return to his cell he would tell them of how he was hung from his hands, and how he would see people in front of him dying of torture.
Dr Abbas Khan was an Orthopaedic Surgeon from London. He left for Syria in 2012 to volunteer at a field hospital, before he was arrested by the Syrian Security apparatus in November of the same year.
On 16/12/2013, the family of Dr Khan announced that the Syrian authorities had told them that he had been killed four days before he was due to be released to a British delegation which was to visit Syria, headed by the MP George Galloway. On 18/12/2013, the Syrian Assistant Foreign Minister said that Khan had committed suicide. This claim was denied by the British authorities, who accused the Syrian authorities of killing him. Dr Khan’s sister also said that the official media office of the Syrian President had informed her that the Syrian authorities had killed her brother.
A sitting was held in London on 7/7/2014 to follow up the issue of the killing of the British doctor Abbas Khan, and the official investigation will begin on 13/10/2014.