Elderly Pakistani couple evacuated from besieged Ghouta

A 72-year-old Pakistani man Mahmoud Fadil Ekrem and his 62-year-old wife Seqral Bib are seen isolated in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, which is under blockade by the Assad regime in Damascus, Syria on 12 December 2017 [Qusay Noor/Anadolu Agency]

An elderly Pakistani couple who previously begged to be rescued from the besieged Syrian province of Eastern Ghouta have just been evacuated by the Red Cresent, Syrian journalist Mohamed Adel told MEMO.

Muhammed Fadel Akram, 72, and his wife Sugran Bibi, 62, have lived in Eastern Ghouta since 1973 yet have been trying to leave the country since the war broke out and one of their children was killed. The family raise livestock, many of which have been killed.

Akram repeatedly asked the Pakistani embassy to do something but they have not responded, he said previously.

This week the regime has escalated its attack on Ghouta. More than 2,000 people have been wounded as a result of the escalation which began on Monday; 560 people have been killed including 107 children and 67 women.

Read: ‘The regime is killing people and the whole world is watching’

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