Amir says the tribe members found his home and threatened his family so he eventually paid them a large sum of money, around US$100,000. At the same time, Amir decided to leave the country and start a new life in Jordan. He still practices in Baghdad, albeit secretly, coming back one week in every month to treat his old patients at a Baghdad hospital.
Another doctor, Samir al-Attar*, has taken similar steps. Assailants beat the doctor inside his own clinic in the upmarket Harithiya neighbourhood in Baghdad. His secretary ran to the nearest military checkpoint for help but by the time they returned, the assailants had gone.
Fearing further attacks or revenge, al-Attar decided against going to the police. Instead he quietly closed his surgery and immigrated with his family to the semi-autonomous, northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is generally considered safer than most other parts of the country.
“There is no protection for doctors in Iraq,” says al-Attar, who may even leave Iraq altogether sometime soon, in a telephone interview. “Armed gangs target us and we are at the mercy of tribal law. Security forces are unable to protect us.”
*Names of some doctors in this story have been changed for security reasons, at the doctors’ request.
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