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Eljamel inquiry: Scottish secretary to intervene with Libya over disgraced Tayside surgeon

Ian Murray is also prepared to call on the foreign secretary to force the rogue doctor to answer claims he left patients with terrible injuries in Ninewells.

Eljamel working in a hospital in Libya.
Eljamel working in a hospital in Libya.

A senior government minister is willing to speak to Libyan authorities and call in the foreign secretary to stop disgraced ex-Tayside neurosurgeon Sam Eljamel from doing more harm.

New Scottish Secretary Ian Murray made the pledge as he prepares to meet campaigners and ex-patients who say they were injured by the shamed doctor.

Eljamel fled to Libya where he is out of reach of a Scottish public inquiry looking at an astonishing number of claims he butchered patients at Ninewells.

The Courier revealed last week that authorities in the UK failed to stop the surgeon building an empire in Libya after he left Dundee when his practices came under scrutiny.

Labour MP Ian Murray, secretary of state for Scotland. Image: PA

Doctors’ regulator the General Medical Council notified some overseas regulators, including the US, but did not contact their Libyan counterparts until 2023.

Eljamel has gone on to perform surgery, including on children, in his home country where his influence is said to be growing.

Mr Murray told us he is happy to raise the case with Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Ian Murray ‘happy to raise’ Eljamel case formally

“I’m very happy to speak to the campaigners, get up to speed on where they are in terms of the inquiry and what they want to do,” he said.

“The foreign secretary and I work very, very closely together, so anything that has to be raised formally, I’m happy to do so.”

The UK has some diplomatic relations with Libya after reopening its embassy in Tripoli in 2022.

Eljamel ‘left a trail of destruction across the globe’

Jules Rose, a campaigner from Kinross who was harmed by Eljamel, said: “Being one of Eljamel’s prey, we want him extradited back to the UK to face justice for his butchery and to stop him causing any more harm to babies and patients in Libya.

“The destruction and devastation he has caused across the globe of innocent peoples lives must stop. Immediately.

“People forget this man left a trail of human destruction all over the world.

“We are begging that Libyan authorities act without delay.”

Ms Rose was among the campaigners who marked the sixth anniversary since the police probe into Eljamel began with a protest.

She joined Pat Kelly to demand answers outside Dundee’s Bell Street station with a mock birthday card, balloon, and cake covered in blood.

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