A number of doctors and employees of the private Tabiyat Hospital in Lattakia have been detained since August 3 following the medical treatment of a child who had sustained gunshot wounds a day earlier and subsequently died of her injuries.
The 9-year-old child, Bara’a Mahmoud Kabbaro, was shot on August 2 and was transported to the private Tabiyat Hospital. After her death was confirmed, her familiy retrieved her body from the hospital, fearing that the corpse would be kidnapped by security forces per their usual tactics.
When security forces arrived at the hospital and did not find the corpse, they transformed the hospital into what resembled a security branch office, interrogating doctors, reviewing videotapes of surgeries, and inspecting hopsital records. As part of their complete sweep of the hospital, security forces arrested Dr. Abdel Razzak Sheikh Khamis, Dr. Essam Ghamira, anaesthesiologist Khaled Karroum, and Ayman Kura, a hospital employee.