Pages on social media circulated a report claiming that the Syrian authorities arrested doctor Ali Assi, known as "the doctor of the poor," over incitement campaigns, alleging he was a physician who devoted his life to treating patients with no ties to any military activity.
The fact-checking team reviewed the official statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Interior and found that the detainee is Brigadier Doctor Ali Muhammad Assi, who previously served as head of the Homs Military Hospital, and that his detention came as part of a security operation targeting three people involved in abuses and crimes committed inside military hospitals during the former regime. The ministry said the arrests were based on investigations supported by evidence, indications, and video footage pointing to the detainees' involvement in systematic torture and abuses against detainees and patients, particularly those transferred from Sednaya prison, with investigations continuing to document the facts and refer the files to the competent judiciary.
Why is this claim misleading?
Distorting the content: The claim recast the reasons for the arrest in a way that contradicts the official account, framing it as a detention over incitement campaigns against a doctor with no military ties, while ignoring that the measure came within announced investigations into abuses committed inside military hospitals, and without presenting any evidence for the motives it promotes.
