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Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 9

TRANSCRIPT:"We left our villages for the city. It was my first demonstration.We arrived and we were surprised.We were expecting a 'normal' demonstrationwith water canon, tear gas, etc.To break us up, they fired machine guns, real bullets....There were snipers also. It was indescribable.I was hit in the shoulder. I was with another demonstrator who I saved.We hid in a building waiting for it to calm down.The area was shelled for two hours.I wanted to help a wounded man but he refused.People had told him that injured peoplewere killed at the hospital.We couldn't do anythingbut I bandaged his woundwith a bit of fabric that a woman gave me...The doctor in the village is pro-regime.He refuses to treat the injured.In the hospital in my village, they just gave me first aidbecause nobody wants to stay at the hospital.You go in one day, and the next day 'they' come and get you.You make do with what you find in the pharmacies: medicines, disinfectants, etc.One scene I remember in particularwas a man with his face hidden,crushing an injured person with his feet."[Who?]One of "them", security, in military gear."Judging by his uniform, he was an officer.At the end, the officerfinished off the injured man.I witnessed that scene with my very own eyes."

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 8

TRANSCRIPT:"I was injured during the demonstration.I was on a motorcycle.I saw a man who wasdragging an injured person out of the crowd.They stopped me and said, 'Take us with you!'There were three of us on the motorcylewith the injured person between us.They shot at us. The other guy who wasn't injured was shot.The man at the back fell off the motorcycle.It was only me and the injured man left. We fled.They kept shooting at us."[Who was shooting?]"The security forces!I was pushed up against a security vehicle. We fell and they beat us up.Everybody in the vehicle got out.About fifty of them were hitting us with the butts of their guns.They were beating us, beating us....I had an injured leg and a bloodied face.I lost consciousness.The other guy with me,after the beating, was almost dead.He was still alive the last time I saw him.As for me, the blood was flowing from my ears,my nose, my mouth... they left me for dead.Some people put me in a blanket and brought me to a makeshift hospital.There, some women gave me first aid.I don't know what aid exactly... I stayed 13 days and then I was able to leave."

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 5

TRANSCRIPT:"I was injured in December. I was arrestedduring a demonstration against the president.I was detained and tortured for fifteen days.The last day,they put a photo of Bashar Al Assad in front of me,and told me to kneel to 'God Bashar'.I told them I only kneel to God,and I tore the photo.They went crazy,as if I was tearing out their soul.So they took me to the colonel,after having beaten me.They tied my hands behind my backand took me to see the colonel who insulted me.Then he said, 'Don't you know that thosewho insult the president have their hands cut off?'He kicked me,and I fell from the top of the stairs.Then they blindfolded me and spread and tied my arms, like a crucifix.In detention, they hang us from the ceilingand insulted us and beat us constantly.Some people had their fingernails torn out.Others were flogged or had their backs broken.They make people lie on a special board,and then lifted the sides until their backs crack.They used all sorts of methods.They broke my toes with a hammer.They taped a detonator with TNT to my hand,the detonator was attachedto a long wire connected to a battery.Then they sent an electric currentand it exploded. I lost three fingers,two-thirds of my other two fingers,along with most of the palm of my hand.Yes, they took me to hospital.They left me there like I was a dog.The level of care wasn't good, and the doctorswere very pessimistic about my hand.It was completely deformed.Even the doctors I saw laterdidn't have the means to treat such a wound.I could not sleepfor twenty-five days because of the pain.Even sleeping pills couldn't make me sleep.At hospital, they just stopped the bleeding.Then my friends cameand helped me escape through the back door.If security had seen me,they'd have killed me.There was a lot of torture in detention.There were 230 of us crammed into a small room.There were old people and doctors amongst us.I asked a doctor how he came to be there.He replied, 'Just like you, son.' "

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 4

TRANSCRIPT:"The security forces shot me in the thigh.A group of men took me to a mosque.At the mosque they told meI needed to go to a hospital for treatment,but that they could not take mebecause the situation was really bad.They said the injured can be shot at the hospital.So they took me to a housewhere I stayed until the afternoon.Then they took me to the national hospital.At the hospital they told us there had been amassacre, that they already had a lot of woundedso they could not operate on me.We stayed at the hospital until midnight,and then they told us to leave for our own safety,in order not to be targeted. So we went to another hospitalwhere they put me on a drip until the morning.They gave me first aid treatment but I needed surgery. I stayed like that for twenty-five daysbefore my leg was operated on.I finally went to hospitalfor the operation twenty-five days later.I went home the day after the operation,knowing I would need a second operation toremove the external fixator and to insert a plate.After two months,I wanted to go back to the hospitalbut the situation was too tense.Nobody could go to hospital,the situation was getting worse and worse.They started to take patients from the hospitals.People gave me moneyso I could have the operation in a private clinic.Then I went to a doctor; the bones were healing but I was suffering from nerve damage.This kind of treatment is not available in Syria.I stayed like that for eight months.Relatives living abroadtold me about the MSF project in Jordan.They told me to get in touchto see if MSF could treat me."

Testimonies from injured people and doctors from across Syria were collected by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff between January 30 and February 6, 2012. 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. Read more - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=5755&cat=press-...

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 2

"I was injured November 31stduring an attack by the Syrian security forces.There were a lot of them,they had surrounded the town.There were tanks firing.I was there as a cameraman,I was filming for Al Jazeeraand other free channels.It was a horiffic attack.There was a man who was wanted by security.They stormed his housethere was gunfire, broken windows,the house was totally devastated inside.In the end they asked his father where he was.I was filming all this from the house next door.there was gunfire, broken windows,the house was totally devastated inside.In the end they asked his father where he was.I was filming all this from the house next door.I moved and the snipers saw me.They tried to shoot me in the head.I got shot several times in my hand,with explosive bullets.It destroyed three fingersand a quarter of my hand.I was lucky because I went into a housewhere a woman was giving birth.They hid me in the same room as the woman.The security forces were after me,they came into the house.Everyone in the house started shouting,and the women cried out,'What are you doing here?There's a woman giving birth!' It saved my life.The security forces left,but the doctors couldn't do much for me.I was bleeding heavily.They tried to use bandages to stop the bleeding.The pain was so bad I wished I was dead.I call on all those who care about human rightsto ensure we receive at least local anaesthesia,to avoid the pain I endured.In Syria, you cannot go to hospital.If you go, they either amputate a limbor take you to prison, even if you're wounded.I've been detained twice.I saw people in prison with rotting wounds.Even then,they don't take you to hospital.I had people die next to me, and saw othersurinate blood because of internal bleeding.And no medical organisations like MSFare allowed to enter the prisons.The field hospitals change place every day.Several times they have come to take awayor burn all the medical materials and supplies.There are no ambulances, they have allbeen targeted. They shoot at the passengers.And the doctors who are brave enoughto take action are arrested, or their wives are rapedin order to prevent them from working, or they place them under house arrest."

Testimonies from injured people and doctors from across Syria were collected by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff between January 30 and February 6, 2012. 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

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 3

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Testimony No. 3

TRANSCRIPT:"We were a group of men from the same neighborhood who went on a demonstration.At first we were asking for administrative reforms,but with the rise of violence,we began demandingthe end of the regime and for our freedom.We were used to being fired at.But the night I was injured,we were not expectingthe Syrian army and security forces to ambush the demonstrators.They launched the attack at midnight.We didn't have time to hide or run away.Two of us were injured and three were killed.One of them was a father.I was shot in my left thigh.My bone was completely shattered.I fainted while I was being carried away.I lost a lot of blood.We fled from house to house until we arrived at my home, the safest place.My injury was getting worsebut all I could think about was staying alive.We tried to find someonewho could treat us until 4 a.m.The other man's injuries were worse than mine,he had been shot in the hand and in his bottom.Unfortunately all the doctors had been arrested for treating injured patientsand they had been forced to sign a documentsaying they would only treat certain cases,the ones the government would allow.So injured people had to wait forauthorization before receiving treatment.They could die a thousand timeswaiting for this authorization.And we hadn't even managed to find a nurse.Eventually we found oneand he took care of me despite the danger.I am so grateful to him.After he treated me,I was carried to another house.So I was treated by a nurseand with very basic medical supplies.He just had needles and thread,scissors and a small box.I begged for anesthesiabut it simply wasn't possible.So I was treated by a nurseand with very basic medical supplies.He just had needles and thread,scissors and a small kit.I begged for anesthesiabut it simply wasn't possible.When he put his fingers in my thigh to extract the bullet,he hit the bone and I cried out in pain.I wanted to be anesthetized but it wasn't possible,so I had to endure the pain."

Testimonies from injured people and doctors from across Syria were collected by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff between January 30 and February 6, 2012. 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. Read more - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=5755&cat=press-...

Syria: Medicine as a Weapon of Persecution, Doctor Testimony

TRANSCRIPT:"I'm a Syrian doctor. I was treating the wounded in Syria. At first, when the demonstrations started, we sent the injured to public hospitals. But then we were told that injured demonstrators were being tortured or left untreated. Many were even killed. Doctors are working in difficult security conditions and in tough medical conditions, too. Makeshift hospitals tend to be one or two rooms somewhere near a demonstration area. In addition to that, there's all the security pressure and difficulty in reaching certain areas. Doctors who treat the wounded are also being harassed by security forces. Security is what worries doctors most. It's difficult. The risk of being arrested is big. But despite that risk, many doctors are putting their lives in danger in order to fulfill their medical oath. It is difficult to find sterilized medical materials. Due to our limited means and the numbers of wounded, we have to resort to rudimentary medical practices. We are forced to use medical materials and perform medical acts that are far from the safe surgical procedures we would usually carry out. Activists and protestors don't really have any medical resources. They don't have ambulances, for example. The injured are transported by their friends and fellow protesters. When we receive serious casualties, a patient who needs to be hospitalized, we have two options: Either we let him die, or we send him to hospital not knowing what will become of him. Many hospitals are encircled and placed under tight control when security forces are informed that a casualty is due to arrive from a demonstration area."


Testimonies from injured people and doctors from across Syria were collected by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff between January 30 and February 6, 2012. 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. Read more - http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=5755&cat=press-...

At Any Price? Event at Boston Public Library, Part 1

At Any Price?Boston Public LibraryFebruary 1, 2012

At Any Price? Event at Boston Public Library, Part 2

At Any Price? Event At The Public Library Of Boston-Part 2

MSF At Any Price -Part 1

Watch "At Any Price? Event at Boston Public Library, Part 1" on YouTube

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At Any Price? MSF Webcast: Negotiating Access to Crisis Zones

Humanitarian negotiations are life-and-death issues for people in need, but they also raise troubling political and ethical dilemmas for the organizations that are engaged in them. In the book Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, published by Columbia University Press, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) takes a critical look at how its teams have negotiated to gain access to people in urgent need of lifesaving medical assistance in the 40 years since MSF was founded, including recent case studies from Somalia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.On January 31, 2012, MSF hosted a live online discussion of these issues featuring several experienced MSF aid workers, who shared their first-hand experiences from past assignments. They described the often complicated process of negotiating with governments, armed groups, public health officials, international actors, community leaders, and local officials; as well as the struggle to define what compromises are acceptable in order to run programs in crisis zones.

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Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Negotiations Revealed

Humanitarian negotiations are life-and-death issues for people in need, but they also raise troubling political and ethical dilemmas for the organizations that are engaged in them. In the book Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, published by Columbia University Press, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) takes a critical look at how its teams have negotiated to gain access to people in urgent need of lifesaving medical assistance in the 40 years since MSF was founded, including recent case studies from Somalia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.
On January 31, 2012, MSF hosted a live online discussion of these issues featuring several experienced MSF aid workers, who shared their first-hand experiences from past assignments. They described the often complicated process of negotiating with governments, armed groups, public health officials, international actors, community leaders, and local officials; as well as the struggle to define what compromises are acceptable in order to run programs in crisis zones.


http://youtu.be/gcs32BwwL7A