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These networks purchase transplantable organs such as kidneys and corneas from Syrians and ship them to neighboring countries, where they disappear into the murky world of the international organ trade, they say. There are also allegations that organs have been stolen from prisoners. Yasser, not his real name, is one of those who sold one of his own kidneys, which he calls the "worst decision of my life." The 29-year-old fled the fighting in his home city of Homs, in western Syria, around 100 miles north of the capital Damascus, after the start of the war. He made his way to Cairo, Egypt, but like many other Syrian refugees he had trouble getting work and found himself with no money to survive. He heard through acquaintances that some people would pay for one of his kidneys. "I was new to Egypt. I did not have any money, and I couldn't find a job, so my only choice was to sell my left kidney," he said.
A broker invited him to his home and a date was set for medical tests and the operation. "I sold it for $3,000 to someone I knew nothing about. We met for no more than 15 minutes before we closed the deal," he said. After the operation, Yasser moved to Istanbul, where he now shares a crowded apartment with several other young refugee men and works in an auto shop. The operation has left him permanently marked – both physically and emotionally – and he felt uncomfortable sharing further details of the procedure. "I will never forgive myself for what I did," said Yasser, who has had pain in his remaining right kidney and had a doctor tell him he could die if he is not very careful. There are no reliable statistics on how widespread the practice may be.
However, Hussein Nofal, head of the department of forensic medicine at Damascus University and chief of the newly formed General Authority for Forensic Medicine, has been compiling evidence of the organ trade and estimates 18,000 Syrians have had organs removed for sale over the past four years of war. He said the trade is particularly active in border areas outside the control of the Assad regime and inside Turkey and Lebanon's camps for Syrian refugees. Nofal said organ prices vary across the region. In Turkey someone can purchase a kidney for $10,000, while in Iraq the price may be as low as $1,000. In Lebanon and Syria, the cost hovers around $3,000.
He was also quoted last year in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which is reportedly close to Bashar al-Assad's regime, as saying that gangs working with Syrian doctors sell corneas for $7,500 each to foreign clients and falsify their country of origin. Even war-torn countries have laws; the laws surrounding the organ trade in Syria are opaque, though, and, with the raging conflict, difficult to enforce or take as far as prosecution. All across Damascus, for instance, there are hundreds of posters requesting organ "donation," especially next to hospitals and pharmacies. A typical one reads: "A sick person is in urgent need of a kidney. Blood type needed: O+. Tissue analysis to be done. For those interested in donating, please contact the number below."
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