MSF Surgeon Killed in Syria

[ProSense]

MSF Surgeon Killed in Syria

September 5, 2013—A Syrian surgeon working for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Dr. Muhammad Abyad, has been killed in northern Syria. His body was found on Sept. 3 in Aleppo province. He was 28 years old.

MSF would like to express its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Abyad, who was working in an MSF-run hospital in Aleppo province treating victims of the conflict.

While the exact circumstances of Dr. Abyad’s death remain unclear, MSF condemns the attack against a surgeon who was relentlessly working to alleviate a desperate humanitarian situation in the region while his own country was at war.

"His death is a terrible loss to his family, to the patients that he was treating, and to MSF," said Joan Tubau, MSF General Director. "We are outraged by this attack against a young and highly motivated surgeon who was working to save the lives of Syrians affected by the conflict."

- more -

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=7047&cat=press-release

[David Krout]

1. I call for a non-Kerry investigation as to who killed this innocent person

Immediately.

[Warpy]

2. Could have been a tribal grudge or a religious grudge

or just a stray bullet from some dingbat who didn't know how to aim.

MSF is great, going into the worst hellholes on the planet.

That's why they are getting the whole inherited portfolio when I kick the bucket.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Mark Seibel, chief of correspondents for McClatchy, on DemocracyNow:

....

MARK SEIBEL: Well, you know, the problem we see for our correspondents going in is that it’s not as safe to be there in areas that we used to think were safe, and it’s largely because of the presence of al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which are two al-Qaeda-affiliated organizations that we’ve seen their influence grow from closer to the border with Iraq, across the northeast and northern Syria, where they’re now very, very active in Idlib province and were responsible for fighting in Latakia, which is on the Mediterranean coast, though the fighting was not on the coast. And so, we’ve actually seen Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq—we’ve seen their influence grow in the last few months, and it’s one of the reasons that news organizations now are not sending correspondents into Syria in the way they used to, because it is not safe to be there. People get kidnapped. They’re being held by Nusra, and it’s not easy to work with them. Every—we had a correspondent in—fairly recently who encountered Nusra every step of the way. He was traveling with moderate rebels, if you will, but they encountered Nusra all the time. So, I’m not quite certain how—how we reached a conclusion that more moderate forces are on the ascendancy in the rebel movement.

....

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/9/4/as_us_pushes_for_syria_strike

[freshwest]

4. This is a real shame. Only 28 years old and busy serving humanity. RIP and condolences to all.

[riverwalker]

5. from a Google search

Syrian Atheists

September 3.

Muhammad Abyad was a proud Syrian Atheists, member of our network, secular anti Assad activist, compassionate doctor and above all a very dear friend.

Muhammad graduated last spring from medical school, had a girlfriend and could have stayed in turkey but he chose to work with doctors without borders in Hot Zones in the north of Syria. He was kidnapped before by islamic extremists and was threatened many times for his anti theist views that he wasn't afraid express publicly. Today facebook pages started reporting that islamist extremists kidnapped him and killed him.

He was the first to go out in peaceful demonstrations and the first to attend to the injured. I would not exaggerate if I called him a true humanist angle with absolute selflessness.

Only two days ago we were talking about him coming out on the page. I can't begin to describe my sadness and I'm not shy of shedding tears for this fallen hero. He was concerned about human rights abuse in every country and used to say I'm a citizen of the world only for these sub-human murderous muslims to come and rob him of the his most basic right, the right to live.

I hope people who interacted with him on this page will share my sentiments when I say although he might be gone but he will live eternally in our memories as the atheist hero, the healer, freedom fighter and our beloved friend.

Photo: Muhammad Abyad was a proud Syrian Atheists, member of our network, secular anti Assad activist, compassionate doctor and above all a very dear friend. Muhammad graduated last spring from medical school, had a girlfriend and could have stayed in turkey but he chose to work with doctors without borders in Hot Zones in the north of Syria. He was kidnapped before by islamic extremists and was threatened many times for his anti theist views that he wasn't afraid express publicly. Today facebook pages started reporting that islamist extremists kidnapped him and killed him. He was the first to go out in peaceful demonstrations and the first to attend to the injured. I would not exaggerate if I called him a true humanist angle with absolute selflessness. Only two days ago we were talking about him coming out on the page. I can't begin to describe my sadness and I'm not shy of shedding tears for this fallen hero. He was concerned about human rights abuse in every country and used to say I'm a citizen of the world only for these sub-human murderous muslims to come and rob him of the his most basic right, the right to live. I hope people who interacted with him on this page will share my sentiments when I say although he might be gone but he will live eternally in our memories as the atheist hero, the healer, freedom fighter and our beloved friend..

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Syrian-Atheists/363191530386710

[freshwest]

6. You might want to edit a bit of that. Most Muslims I know who have left their religion did not adopt

another one, but became atheists.

Some became Christians, but most said they wanted nothing more to do with religion as it was letting people deny their humanity with others. Whether this young man was born into a religion or not, he should not have been killed for it. Freedom of religion or no religion is freedom of the mind and it does not get much more basic than that.

His eyes show that he had seen a lot in his life. Yet he still had - faith? - in the cause of humanity. Yes, I'd call him a true humanist.

Just as Raoul Wallenberg, when he is said to have saved the lives of either 20,000 or 100,000 Jews from the Third Reich. But he was later said to be arrested by Soviet forces and never seen again. His family has asked Obama to ask Putin in his visit today for proof of his fate since they suspect the Russians know.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/wallenberg.html#disappear
Another source said 20K instead of 100K. IDK.

[freshwest]

7. Story of that other young man, Wallenberg. Has a lot I didn't know: