Posted on 9 February, 2012
MSF’s Dr. Greg Elder appeared on CNN to talk about the Syrian regime’s campaign of unrelenting repression against people wounded in demonstrations and the medical workers trying to treat them.
While MSF cannot work directly in Syria, it has collected testimonies from wounded patients treated outside the country and from doctors inside Syria. The testimonies, collected from several people from various parts of the country, point to a crackdown on the provision of urgent medical care for people wounded in the ongoing violence in Syria.
“In Syria today, wounded patients and doctors are pursued, and risk torture and arrest at the hands of the security services,” said Marie-Pierre Allié, MSF president. “Medicine is being used as a weapon of persecution.”
A story from the video vaults of MSF:
Mouna’s Story: An Iraqi Girl Struggles to Walk Again
Part 4 of a 5 part series
This video series from 2007 follows Mouna, a young girl who suffered severe injuries in Iraq, learning to walk again on artificial limbs with the help of MSF surgeons and physiotherapists in Amman, Jordan. MSF opened the program in 2006 to provide specialized reconstructive surgery to civilians wounded in the conflict.
Tune in tomorrow for the final installment, part 5 of Mouna’s story.
If you missed the other films in the series go here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
WARNING: These testimonies contain graphic descriptions of violence.
MSF is not authorized to operate inside Syria at present and thus is unable to fully verify the information collected here. However, given the recurring nature, consistency, and severity of the acts described in these testimonies, MSF has decided to make them public. For security reasons, names and locations have been withheld.
“I was injured November 31. There was an attack by the Syrian security forces. There were tanks and there was firing by the tanks. My mission was a media one. I was supposed to film and show the truth on free channels and Al Jazeera. It was a horrific attack.”
–Man, 29 years old
Date of injury: November 2011
Click here to view more testimonials of the victims in Syria.