Australian Story: Nov 21

This is the final episode of Australian Story this year, following the journey of Syrian nurse Khaled Naanaa, who nine months ago was creating international headlines inside a warzone.

He is now making a new life with his family in Perth.

It returns on Monday 6 February 2017.

Khaled Naanaa, 31, could hardly contain his excitement about coming to live in Perth with his wife Joumana and four-year-old daughter Ayaa.

“I’m like a man who’s left hell and is going to be rewarded with heaven. This is how I feel going to Australia.” – Khaled Naanaa

Just nine months earlier Khaled Naanaa caused an international outcry when his images of civilians being intentionally starved to death in a town called Madaya were splashed over news bulletins around the world.

The Assad Government had besieged the rebel-held town six months earlier, completely sealing it off to the outside world and denying any food or medical supplies to the 40,000-strong population.

Now for the first time, Mr Naanaa tells the inside story of what happened during the siege and why he risked his life to make a difference.

As a trained anaesthetics nurse, Mr Naanaa became the most qualified person in Madaya and found himself performing complex procedures like amputation and open-stomach surgery, which he learnt how to do by watching operations on YouTube.

“He did amazing work. I really admire this guy.” – Dr Ammar Ghanem, Syrian American Medical Society

But then when patients began to die in front of him, purely because of a lack of food, he was driven to do something about it.

“We tried to report this to the UN or the Red Cross in Syria, but without results.” – Khaled Naanaa

With no action from the United Nations, Khaled Naanaa turned to the media. Immense public pressure followed, and the UN was finally granted access to deliver life-saving aid to Madaya. But at the same time, Mr Naanaa received death threats from supporters of the Assad Government, which was responsible for the starvation siege.

He fled for his life. Then, thanks to an unlikely connection with an Australian journalist he’d never met, Mr Naanaa and his family were offered humanitarian visas to come to Australia.

Monday 21st November at 8pm