he'd been granted a royal pardon by
Syrian president Bashar al-assad and was
due to be released later this week
respect MP George Galloway had been
speaking with the Syrian president and
foreign minister about his arrangements
to fly to Damascus to bring abis Khan
home I was in touch daily for seven days
uh with the foreign minister directly
and uh I gave them my flight uh putative
flight arrangements and we discussed the
cars and the security uh for the
Hazardous Journey Through the north of
Lebanon and uh from the border to
Damascus uh that's why I say it is
inexplicable what has happened and did
the foreign minister did he explain to
you why they decided now of all times to
release Mr Khan well I've been pushing
for it for almost a year uh involving
both the president and the foreign
minister and other ministers the Justice
Minister for example uh leing uh very
regularly with the family the sister and
the mother of the deceased and uh I did
so because they asked me to and because
I live in stram as did Dr KH and the
local mosque where he worshiped came and
asked me to try to rescue him from his
plate and did the foreign Ministry
explain why they decided to give a
pardon now uh yes they told me they
would always uh but that the case had to
uh go through process as they put it the
trial had to continue and the verdict
would be set aside by the president and
he would be released to me and I
conveyed all of that to the family uh
throughout the months that this was
going on the foreign Ministry in Syria
spoken to the BBC tonight and they are
insistent that Mr Khan took his own life
what's your what's your belief well I
just can't believe that uh because I
know that he knew that I was coming to
get him just 4 days later
and a man who' endured everything that
he had endured over 12 months uh his
weight fell as you may know to less than
five Stone uh he underwent terrible uh
ordeals in the jails in Syria uh which
are not a pleasant place at the best of
times and these are the worst of times
uh it's just inconceivable that a man
would commit suicide 4 days before a
freedom that he had told his family he
was desperately looking forward to I'm
going to play you what the foreign
office Minister Hugh Robertson has said
about this and then get your reaction
after this the fact remains that he went
to Syria to help the people of Syria who
are affected by the Civil War 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 injured during
their Civil War can you recall a time
when a British government of any
political persuasion has accused another
government of murder well the British
government is up to its neck in murder
in Syria we are supporting with money
and with so-called non-lethal military
aid the tens maybe scores of thousands
of foreign extremist jihadists who have
swarmed into Syria and all around it and
have killed uh many many thousands of
people usually because of the minority
religious group to which they belong so
I don't take any lectures from a
conservative min minister in Britain
about murder in Syria but he's right in
this respect Dr KH was an orthopedic
surgeon he went to Syria out of
religious conviction to help people
injured uh sometimes awfully injured in
the course of this grotesque war that
Syria has suffered for three years so uh
I I don't have much Sympathy for the
foreign office they did virtually
nothing to have Dr KH released and the
only contact they had with me was to
warn me not to go to Damascus to rescue
him because they said they do not have
command and control over these jihadists
and that's precisely my point we're
giving them guns we're giving them Aid
of all kinds uh but we have no command
and control over them it's a
Frankenstein monster that we've been a
part of creating there do you believe
that Dr KH was murdered yes I'm certain
that he was I disagree also with Mr
Robertson in this respect it was the
Syrian authorities the president and the
foreign minister acting on the
president's behalf that asked me to come
and take Dr KH home for Christmas so I'm
certain that it wasn't a decision of the
Syrian leadership but in a way what's
happened makes that even worse because
clearly some elements of the Syrian
Security Services are out of the control
of the president and ready to defy his
wishes and bring bring this disgrace
upon their country so you think you
convinced it was the security services
that murdered him against the wishes of
the president well the president would
not have asked me write down to what
plane are you getting off and we'll have
a car waiting at the airport they would
not have asked me to come if they were
going to execute him four days before I
got
there he has written in his most recent
letter that he's been kept this is a
quote been kept in appalling and
inhumane conditions seen my mental
health markedly deteriorate I suffer
from almost constant depression and
suicidal ideation do you think given
he's written that that there is any
shred of credibility to the fact that he
may have taken his own life I really
don't uh because the family tell me that
he knew that I was coming uh just 4 days
later and that he was desperately
looking forward to uh reuniting with a
family that have uh fought every inch of
the way in this terrible story to have
him freed so I I really don't uh but of
course he had suffered that order deal
that uh reduced his weight uh to
skeletal uh levels and uh who had no
doubt uh uh which had no doubt had
serious implications for his mental
health but uh there's no reason to
believe that 4 days before being
released that he would take his own life
have you spoken to his mother since you
found this news out because she's been
in Damascus hasn't she yeah no I speak
to the sister in London uh regularly and
I'm in touch with them regularly I think
she the mother is now in Beirut and the
best thing that the Syrian authorities
can do now is to immediately release the
body to the care of his family for
religious reasons but also so that an
independent autopsy can take place if
that doesn't happen then not only will
we never know the whole truth uh nobody
but nobody and that includes me will
believe the official story and will you
be asking the president and the foreign
minister to assist you with that request
I have done uh I have done from the
moment that I learned of his
death amidst all of this and what it may
or may not tell us about Syria and the
fragility of what's going on there in
the Civil War a family here has lost a
son a father and a brother indeed it's
an absolute unspeakable tragedy it's an
obscenity and it brings disgrace uh on
Syria and as I said given that I
exculpate the president who wouldn't
have invited me to come and uh bring The
Prisoner home uh that means that there
are elements ready to murder in defiance
of the decisions of their political
leadership and that doesn't augure well
respect MP George Galloway talking to me
there he was due to fly to Damascus at
the end of the week to bring home Mr
Abus Khan his brother sha Naas Khan will
be on five live breakfast talking to
Nikki Campbell and Rachel buron tomorrow
morning from 6 a.m. 10:47 going to be
talking about fracking before 11 on the
front page of Chief International
correspondent who's in Syria so George
Galloway MP is in Westminster but you
were about to fly out to Syria to try
and bring Mr khah home I was uh I can't
match the power of Le to set's report
there which sums up the story uh
perfectly but all I can add is that I
was to fly to Beirut on Friday morning
arriving late in the evening because I
couldn't get a direct flight the Syrian
government had laid on cars and security
for the Hazardous Journey uh through the
north of Lebanon where there's a lot of
War uh going on now too and across the
border and on the difficult Road from
the border to the capital so the Syrian
government uh were serious about
releasing Dr Khan and it was the deputy
foreign minister Mr mcdad that least
just referred to who called me in my car
about 10 days ago and asked me to be
there before Christmas to receive him
but this is really strange then isn't it
because if the government of Syria
wanted him to to be released as a so
called gift to the UK why would the
government of Syria then kill him well
I'm sure that they didn't kill him but
somebody killed him and that somebody
has to be found within the security
apparatus uh that is acting basically
out of control a rogue uh Security
Service the president's writ obviously
doesn't run even throughout the
government controlled areas and the
public service because there's there is
no way that the president himself
through the foreign Minister would ask
me to come and pick him up and then
execute him equally there's no way that
Dr KH would commit suicide 4 days before
I was coming to take him home to see his
beloved children I was going to ask you
about that possibility I I don't know
whether the balance of his mind was
Disturbed but I guess we can't rule out
suicide well we can't of course rule it
out we weren't there but uh uh I've just
been with uh one of uh Dr K's Brothers
sha aaz who was quoted earlier in your
report and he told me that Dr KH was
well aware that I was coming to pick him
up that he was elated he'd written in
those terms he was elated couldn't wait
for the moment and he had two small
children uh that he was desperate to be
reunited with so um of course it could
be suicide but it's just about the most
unlikely suicide you can imagine there
may be people who get in touch George
and say look it is profoundly dangerous
to go into Syria but not least if you go
in on your own and and don't take
anything away from how well-meaning Dr
Khan was but to go in alone to help the
rebels is a uh is a difficult and
dangerous thing to do well uh he went
there not like these uh jihadist
Fanatics that Britain is arming and
financing to the teeth he went in there
as an orthopedic surgeon to deal with
the horrific wounds that are everywhere
in Syria more than 100,000 people have
died as you know uh and he did so for
the the very best of humanitarian
intentions of course he shouldn't have
done it uh I'm sure that uh if if he had
known how it would all end he wouldn't
have done it he would have stayed on the
Turkish side of the Border treating
refugees which is what he originally uh
was doing but of course Britain is up to
its neck in all this we have been
encouraging this war we've been funding
it we've been providing it with
political and diplomatic support and
so-called non-lethal military aid this
is has all got to stop now the Geneva
talks begin in just a few days in
January Geneva 2 it's time to bring this
war to an end thank you very much George
Galloway MP talking about the well it's
inexplicable I was booked to fly to
Beirut and be whisked by Syrian
government car from Beirut Airport past
the uh Wild Frontier and onward to
Damascus to take delivery of Dr KH to
bring him home to his family for
Christmas and it's inexplicable that the
uh leadership in Syria would have asked
me to do that indeed pressed me and
called me and texted me almost every day
for a week to make all the necessary
arrangements if they were planning to uh
execute him so I have absolutely no
doubt that the Syrian political
leadership is not involved in this crime
did how did you come to learn of his
death I mean at what stage the day
before you did the sister of Dr K called
me hysterically to say that her brother
had one hour before been found dead in
his cell that Dr KH knew and that I was
coming to pick him up 4 days later it is
therefore equally inexplicable that he
committed suicide because he had already
told his family how elated he was about
his impending release and his return to
them that leaves only one option that
someone in the Syrian apparatus M this
man against the orders of the president
of the Republic and that doesn't Ure
well have have you had any further
contact with the government in Syria to
clarify matters at all yes constantly
and I'm calling on them now to
immediately release his body to his
family for lots of reasons but the most
important being that that's the only way
that an independent autopsy can be
conducted on Dr K's body and if that
doesn't happen then no one will ever
believe the Syrian government story
including me what do you make of these
claims from various quarters including
of course Dr Khan's family that the
British foreign office did not act
decisively enough or forcefully enough
to try and obtain his release given that
he was a medical doctor reportedly
carrying out humanitarian work well they
didn't act at all the British foreign
office did absolutely nothing to get Dr
Khan out of prison in Syria in fact the
only contact I had with them was two
telephone calls in which they told me
not to go to bring him back because they
could not guarantee my safety in any way
could not help me in any way uh to carry
out this Mission they said that they had
no command and control over the violent
Fanatics that they have been paying for
and helping to arm these last three
years in Syria I pointed out that their
lack of command and control over this
Frankenstein monster that they have
created have been precisely my point
over the last three years they have
built this monster of violent Fanatics
and they have no command and control
over them that is good a definition of a
Frankenstein monster as it's possible to
imagine but you you yourself you were
determined to go ahead with your journey
to Damascus in spite of the foreign
office warning I mean were they just
playing the health and safety card or do
you think they were uh politically
motivated to stop you
going it could have been the latter it
definitely was the former uh their
impotence in this whole picture is uh a
very very powerful message of the need
for diplomatic relations if they hadn't
broken off diplomatic relations in
Damascus and expelled the Syrian Embassy
and Consular staff here in London uh
then they wouldn't have been dependent
on a 55y old woman Dr K's mother who'
never been out of this country before
but who somehow managed to get to
Damascus and reach all the leading
players in Damascus over many months
they wouldn't have been dependent on me
whom they obviously didn't want to see
Vindicated by bringing Dr KH home they
would have been able to do these things
themselves so obviously in your view the
British government have mishandled their
their whole position on Syria well
Britain is up to its neck in the blood
and gore in Syria there's been more than
110,000 lives
lost including the life of Dr K and
Britain is deeply culpable in all of
them what do you see happening now do
you think the death of Dr Khan will uh
have any effect on foreign policy will
Mr hay get involved in this now or be it
uh too
late well the British uh under American
orders have already executed a uturn on
their policy towards Syria and Iran I
may say that now move their traveling to
to KV and the Ukraine uh but they have
given up in Iran and Syria and whereas
just a few months ago we were uh on the
tarmac revving uh to send a mission to
start bombing Syria uh we have now under
American orders uh begun to pursue a
policy of diplomacy but too little and
too
late what do you mean by that remark
about Ukraine what what do you see the
British involvement in Ukraine being
well Britain the European Union the
United States uh John McCain and so on
uh
Russia's brilliant scintillatingly
brilliant
diplomacy over the Syria question have
uh sought to get their revenge on the
streets of Kev that's what they're doing
now you're not going to make yourself
terribly popular in uh government
circles with these remarks are you well
the last thing in the whole world I
would like to be is popular amongst the
ranks of the the David Cameron Nick
plague condemn coalition government from
abas Khan will the respect MP for
Bradford West George Galloway had been
due to fly to the region this week to
collect Mr Khan he told me how he became
involved with the case well I live in
stram as did Dr KH and he worshiped at
the local mosque around the corner from
my house and the Moss came around the
family approached me and they thought
that I would be well placed to negotiate
his release and I've been working on
this case now for almost a year about 7
days ago I got a call whil driving in my
car from the foreign minister of Syria
who said that the president himself had
asked him to call me and that I should
make haste to Damascus to pick up Dr K
and bring him home to his family and so
advanced was this that uh I had actually
made my flight reservations for this
Friday and the Syrian government had
made o arrangements for a motor car and
security Convoy to to take the rather
hazardous Journey Through the north of
Lebanon past Tripoli which is itself a
war zone and across the Syrian border to
Damascus so you can imagine how
flabbergasted I was when uh 4 days
before setting off to bring doctor khol
I got the call to say that he was now
dead and they said he had killed
himself yes I learned this from Dr
Khan's sister and I immediately phoned
the foreign minister and he told me that
uh he had not been executed he had
committed suicide I've now had three
different uh telephone conversations
with him and five texts and they're
sticking to the story that uh Dr KH 4
days before his putative release hanged
himself with his pajamas in his prison
cell and I simply don't believe it can't
believe it what do you think happened
well it's inconceivable that the
government the minister the president
would have asked me to come to pick a
come up if they were going to execute
him 4 days before I got there so I'm
ruling out the Syrian government leaders
themselves being involved in this
killing but I'm equally ruling out the
idea of suicide so that seems to point
in the direction of a rift somehow
somewhere within the Syrian regime and
some elements of the security services
for some reason murdering this innocent
uh and helpless prisoner the British
government's calling it murder you you
concur with that it's murder most foul
in my view first of all he's a very
religious man the Lord hath set his
Cannon against self-slaughter and for
Muslims that's an absolute given
secondly having undergone an ordeal of
12 months during which he his weight
dropped below Five Stone the idea that 4
days before I was to take him home to
his family he would kill himself is just
out of the question in my view simple
common sense it rules that that out
George Galloway MP well I'm joined now
on the line from Damascus by our chief
International correspondent Le duet
there is I think a little bit of a delay
on the line but at least what are the
Syrian authorities saying to you about
this it's been quite an astonishing and
shocking turn of events uh Roger you
heard uh George Galloway telling about
the detailed preparations I've seen
those text messages myself uh the fisel
mechad the deputy foreign minister who
was his main contact showed me those uh
what their conversation had been about
and a few days earlier we had been told
by the Syrian government that yes indeed
Dr abas Khan would be freed and they
were clearly pleased by that so
obviously something has gone terribly
wrong this was something ordered from
the very top president Assad ordered it
it was clear that his wife a British
citizen Asma alassad was also part of
this they were hoping as to use their
words this was meant to be a Christmas
present to the people of Britain from
from the people of Syria but something
terrible has happened in those last
moments in Dr abbas's Cell we were told
that he was given his breakfast at 7:00
in the morning but when they checked on
him at 9:00 between 900 and 9:30 and
knocked on on his his cell door that
there was no answer but Dr mcdad the
deputy foreign minister was categorical
that a government autopsy has confirmed
for them that this was a suicide and
when I asked him well is it possible
that intelligence services members of
the intelligence Services could have
acted differently he said this was
impossible no one would differ with the
decision of the president do you get the
impression the Syrian authorities are
very dismayed by what
happened shocked shock I I seeing Dr mad
he was clearly shocked and seeing the
officials who told us he would be
released they clearly wanted this to
happen this is a government which is
trying at least let's say this is the
the foreign Ministry and the around
president the people around president
Assad want to improve relations with the
west and they have been very confident
of late thinking that their narrative
which is that this is a war against
terrorism look at the divisions among
the opposition look at the growing
extremism look at the attacks uh by the
groups linked to Al-Qaeda and there has
have been murmurings in the west uh that
perhaps the Real Enemy of the West is
not president Assad's regime but
actually the islamist so things were
beginning to turn uh in the minds of
people here they always felt confident
that eventually the West would come
around and they felt Vindicated there's
a kind of I Told You So This is a
setback but I think it will be up to
Britain in particular to decide how much
of a setback this will be the
authorities in Damascus will not want it
to be a setback and in fact as George
Galloway has hinted too their most their
biggest political problem now is what is
the wrangling and the uh the accusations
and the uh uh
recrimination and perhaps even more
that's likely to result cuz somebody if
it if indeed he was murdered if we take
that version of events who did it and
who dared to defy the president's orders
Lee thank you Lee do set there on the
line from
Damascus hunger is become