BBC whistleblower – interview with Anna Brees

The testimony of a former BBC employee who flagged Saving Syria’s Children as “stage managed” is discussed in this interview with the author of this blog, Robert Stuart, conducted by former BBC and ITV journalist Anna Brees.

Email to BBC crisis actor

I have today contacted the Dutch-Armenian woman who I believe participated in a staged event which was filmed by a BBC Panorama team in Aleppo, Syria in August 2013. My email to the woman is reproduced below.

My reasons for believing this person to be a crisis actor are set out in this previous post: https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/identification-of-possible-participant-in-the-napalm-bomb-event/

In the two composite images below the woman on the left is the person I have emailed (the images are taken from her social media accounts). On the right is, I believe, the same woman in the guise of an incendiary attack victim at Atareb Hospital, Aleppo on 26 August 2013.

Scenes featuring other alleged victims of the alleged attack filmed at the same hospital on the same day were included in the September 2013 BBC Panorama programme Saving Syria’s Children (from 30:38). For more background see the home page of this blog.

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From: Robert Stuart
Sent: 19 May 2020 13:55
To: X.XXXXXXXXX@gmail.com
Subject: Atareb Hospital, Aleppo 26 August 2013

Dear XXXX

My name is Robert Stuart.

I am a journalist. I was given your email address by a friend of yours in the Netherlands.

You contacted me on Facebook six years ago and asked me to remove an image from film taken at Atareb Hospital, Aleppo on 26th August 2013. Here is the image:

I replied to your Facebook message and asked you to please explain more but you did not respond.

Then I found a video online which showed you at Atareb Hospital on 26th August 2013. You had white cream on your face as if you had been burned – here is a link to the video. Here is a still image from it:

I understand that you are originally from Kamishli in Syria and that you came to the Netherlands about 20 years ago to seek asylum. I have spoken with someone who used to live in your neighbourhood in Kamishli. This person recognises you in the video from Atareb Hospital.

I would very much like to speak with you to ask you some questions:

1. Can you confirm that you were at Atareb Hospital, Aleppo on 26 August 2013?
2. Why did you travel to Aleppo at that time?
3. Were you injured by a bomb?
4. Do you still have scars from a bomb attack?
5. If you were not injured by a bomb, why were you at Atareb Hospital?
6. What was happening at the hospital on that day?
7. How did you get involved?
8. Who organised the events at the hospital on that day?
9. Can you give me the names and/or contact details of anyone who was involved?
10. Why did you want me to delete the picture from Facebook?

It would be good if we were to speak in person. You can call me on +44XXXXXXXXXX.

Yours sincerely

Robert Stuart