Last letter home by Dr Abbas Khan proves he didn't kill himself, say family

 
Killed: Dr Abbas Khan was held in a Syria jail

The final letter sent by a London surgeon “murdered” in a Syrian jail demolishes the regime’s claim he took his own life, his family said today.

Dr Abbas Khan was just days away from being released on the orders of President Assad when his family were told he had killed himself.

In the letter dated December 7 released to the Evening Standard, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Khan, 32, told his family: “To everyone! Good work guys, seems they are now responding to the threat of a foreign delegation. But keep up the pressure. We don’t want to lose the Christmas period ‘window’. Till I’m not released — I’m not free! They can release me immediately if they wanted to.”

His sister Sara Khan, 23, said: “He was not sat there saying ‘I will rot here’. He is not sat there moping, he wants to come home. He is advising us. That just shows he did not commit suicide.”

Heart-breaking: Rurayya, seven, with an appeal to David Cameron to secure her father’s release
Letter sent to the the Prime Minister David Cameron from Rurayya Khan the daughter of the British surgeon who died in a Syrian jail. Picture/Letter supplied by Sara Khan, Free To Use. MUST SEEK PERMISSION TO USE THIS PICTURE from Hana Khan 07947 762624

The father-of-two from Streatham travelled to Aleppo in November last year without a valid visa to treat civilians at a field hospital in the rebel-held town of Aleppo. He was arrested within 48 hours.

Dr Khan, a former surgeon at London’s Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, was kept in an underground cell in complete darkness at a notorious military prison. He was beaten and tortured for eight months, but was due to be handed over on Friday ahead of a secret meeting between President Assad and a contingent of British MPs and peers on December 27.

Yesterday the Syrian authorities told the family Dr Khan had hanged himself in his cell — a claim dismissed by relatives and the Foreign Office who said his “extremely suspicious” death amounted to murder.

Sara Khan said her brother’s wife Hana, 30, was distraught and had not yet been able to tell her children Abdullah, six, and Rurayya, seven.

“We haven’t told them yet. We wantt his wife to gain a bit more strength. She is not doing well to say the least. Words can’t describe how she is and what she is feeling.”

The children also sent two heartbreaking letters to their “Baba” which were passed on to him by his mother Fatima Khan, 57. She single-handedly spent four months searching the war-torn country for her son and was able to track him down after the British authorities failed to find him. Abdullah wrote: “Dear Baba, even if I smile when you’re not here I am not happy inside.” His sister said: “I miss you so much and wish you will come back very soon and safely. You are my star.”

In a separate letter begging for the Prime Minister to intervene, Rurayya wrote: “David Cameron, please help our Dad. Please please help.”

The family said they felt “betrayed” by the British Government and accused it of not doing enough to secure Dr Khan’s release, instead treating the case as if he was a “wayward traveller in Dubai being caught drunk”. In letters passed to Foreign Secretary William Hague, Dr Khan had told of his brutal treatment at the Far’ Falastin detention centre where his weight dropped to below five stone.

Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson said “urgent clarification” was being sought about Dr Khan’s death, adding: “There is no excuse whatsoever for the treatment that he has suffered by the Syrian authorities who have in effect murdered a British national who was in their country to help people.”

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