LONDON: A British surgeon who was arrested last November within 48 hours of arriving in Syria to offer his services as an emergency doctor has died in jail, his family said on Tuesday.

The family of Abbas Khan, 32, an orthopedic surgeon from south London who had planned to volunteer in rebel-held Aleppo, was told he would be released this week, his brother Afroze Khan told the BBC. But when his mother went to visit him in prison in Damascus on Monday she was told he had died, he said.

The BBC reported that a Syrian government official said Khan, a father of two, had committed suicide. But his brother said that was impossible, given that he was preparing to go home with his mother who had spent the past four months in the Syrian capital to be near her son.

“He was happy and looking forward to being released,” Khan said. “We are devastated, distraught and we are angry at the Foreign Office for dragging their feet for 13 months.”

The British foreign office said it was “extremely concerned” by the report, and defended its actions.

“If these tragic reports are true, responsibility for Dr. Khan’s death lies with them (the Syrian authorities) and we will be pressing for answers about what happened,” it said in a statement.

The foreign office said officials had frequently sought consular access to Khan as well as information on his detention, both directly and through the Russians, Czechs and others. Britain closed its embassy in Damascus in February 2012.

“These requests have consistently been ignored,” it said.

Khan said when his mother arrived his brother weighed just 32 kg was barely able to walk. In letters Abbas Khan wrote to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, he said he had been tortured in detention and kept in isolated, squalid conditions. Reuters was not able to reach the Khan family for comment.