Red Cross: Damascus releases body of British doctor who died in Syrian custody

BEIRUT – A Red Cross official says Damascus has released the body of a British doctor who died in Syrian custody and that the physician's remains are now being transported to Lebanon.

Beirut-based Samar El Kadi says Syrian government officials handed over the body of 32-year-old Abbas Khan to the Red Cross on Saturday.

Khan was seized by government troops in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in November 2012, after his family says he entered the country on a humanitarian mission.

He appeared to be on the verge of being released when his death was announced earlier this week.

Syrian authorities say Khan committed suicide in custody.

But in Britain, Hugh Robertson, an official from the Foreign Office, said that President Bashar Assad's government effectively murdered Khan.