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