British Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson asserts a British doctor detained for more than a year in Syria was murdered by Syrian authorities.
Robertson said that Syrian authorities "in effect murdered" London-based doctor Abbas Khan, 32, who had been imprisoned for allegedly assisting anti-government rebels.
The orthopedic surgeon traveled to Syria in November 2012 to care for civilians wounded in the Syrian civil war. He was arrested soon after for entering without a visa. The Syrian government announced it would release Khan this month, and his family was anticipating his return.
Syrian authorities told his family that Khan hanged himself in his cell, a scenario his family says is "absolute slander" and "makes no sense." Shah Nawaz Khan believes his brother was "silenced for whatever he might have to say."
A statement from the British Foreign Office said that it would hold Syrian authorities responsible for his death if it occured at their hands: "responsibility for Dr. Khan's death lies with them, and we will be pressing for answers about what happened."
[BBC] [CNN] [New York Times]
