When Dr Abbas Khan, an orthopaedic surgeon from London, was killed in a Syrian prison after travelling to help the victims of bombing, his death was a tragedy for the family who were left behind.
But for a teenage boy watching the news on British television, his sacrifice was an inspiration. Karim al-Jian, 24, who was born in Aleppo but has lived in Britain since he was six months old, was so impressed by Khan’s selflessness that he decided to become a doctor himself.
Eight years later he has graduated and, after a tribute he paid to Khan on his graduation day went viral on social media, he has had an emotional meeting with the surgeon’s brother and sister.
Khan, from Streatham in southwest London, had entered Syria illegally from Turkey to help victims of hospital bombings. He was detained by the Syrian authorities and spent nearly a year in prison, where he was found hanged in his cell in December 2013 aged 32. A British inquest the following year found that he had been unlawfully killed.
Jian, who was living in Morecambe, Lancashire, at the time, had been emotionally caught up in the Syrian civil war. He said: “That someone out of the goodness of their heart went to this country — where they have no connection — to save lives was astounding to me. He put the lives of others before himself.”
Advertisement
From then on he followed the family’s pursuit of justice. “I really felt that his mother’s pain was the pain of hundreds of thousands of Syrians,” Jian said.
He won a place at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and graduated last month after five years of study. In all that time Khan was always at the back of his mind, even inspiring his ambition to become an orthopaedic surgeon himself. “A few days before graduating I printed a photo of him, put it in a frame and took it with me to the photoshoot of my graduation,” he said.
Jian posted a photograph of himself under the old pier on Brighton beach, holding Khan’s picture alongside the words: “In 2012 British surgeon Abbas Khan went to Aleppo, Syria to treat wounded civilians. He was consequently tortured and murdered by the Syrian regime. His story touched many, including a . . . boy from Aleppo who wanted to be like Dr Khan. Today that boy graduated a doctor.”
Jian, who has just started his foundation training in Barnstaple, Devon, told The Times: “I wanted his mother to see it, to know that despite all these years her son was still inspiring people.”
After the post went viral, Khan’s sister Sara, 31, asked on Twitter if anybody knew him. “This is so touching it has brought tears to my eyes,” she wrote. “I would like to send him a message if possible.”
Advertisement
The BBC helped to organise a meeting. Sara Khan, a mother of two young children, told Jian: “It is inspiring the fact that you dedicated your medical career to Abbas. I cannot explain to you how touched my family and I are. It was so beautiful to read it.”
The family gave Jian one of Khan’s old textbooks. “It made me cry,” he said.
They plan to keep in touch; Khan’s brother Shah, also an orthopaedic surgeon, has offered to give Jian advice about his chosen specialism.