However, I am dubious about whether the crime actually took place, or- if it did- in the way desribed. A state such as Syria with an official policy of suppressing news is a state where rumours have more power. In a state where something happens and the state doesn’t say so, then it’s easy- and fallacious- to assume that if the state didn’t say something happened, it must have happened. First, it seems improbable that there should just happen to be four young men together in the same place all of whose tastes are perverted enough for them to rape a small child and for them to have the opportunity to do so. The accumulation of detail also makes me dubious about the medical record- this isn’t the kind of detail doctors would tell a journalist or general inquirer. Finally I don’t believe that five hospitals would refuse emergency aid- the fact that the girl is supposed to have ended up at a children’s hospital suggests that- if she ever existed- the whole narrative is made up of exaggeration and rumour and the factual baisis is probably small or even non-existent. Do the actual hospitals named exist in Aleppo? Is there any traceable source for this story?