The doctor Rafik Abu-Ramadan came to Sweden in the 90s with a certificate of a medical degree in Egypt. Even before he received his Swedish medical license, he was reported to the police after six boys were circumcised in an incorrect way. Abu-Ramadan admitted that the procedure was performed without anesthesia, but said it did not cause any significant pain. He was convicted of child abuse, but was acquitted by the Supreme Court as they considered that his parents consented to the circumcisions.
Watch the full report: The doctor's sacrifice
'Torture-like treatment' – warned
In 2003, Abu-Ramadan received a warning after a three-week-old boy nearly died after another circumcision. The doctor said that he had followed the regulations, but the National Board of Health and Welfare considered that the boy had been subjected to a "torture-like treatment". A couple of years later, in 2007, Uppdrag granskning revealed that Abu-Ramadan in the process of obtaining a Swedish medical license falsified two service certificates in which he failed during an internship. Rafik Abu-Ramadan denied the crime, but was sentenced to probation for forgery.
Required "a serious crime"
In total, Rafik Abu-Ramadan has been reported 23 times to the Health Care Accountability Board (HSAN) for several serious incidents and warned a total of three times. Until August this year, he has retained his medical license. When asked how many times a doctor may make mistakes before he loses his license, the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (Ivo) answers in an email to Uppdrag granskning:
"If an ID is to be revoked, it is clearly regulated in the legislation when this can happen. For example, it may be a case of gross incompetence, that you have been guilty of a serious crime, so that it affects confidence in the professional or that the professional has in some way acted inappropriately."
Imprisonment for sexual assault
In December last year, doctor Rafik Abu-Ramadan was sentenced to nine months in prison for sexually assaulting two young female patients at a private health center in Rosengård in Malmö.
Only six months after the verdict in Malmö District Court, HSAN decided to temporarily revoke Rafik Abu-Ramadan's medical license, following a request from the Health and Social Care Inspectorate. The fact that the doctor had been warned and notified earlier was not addressed in the decision.
Does it need to go so far that two young women are sexually assaulted before the doctor is stopped?
"This is beyond what HSAN should take a position on. We only take a position on the registration. What is beyond that, we do not take a position on and have no opinion on, says Eskil Nord, chairman of the Healthcare Liability Board in Uppdrag granskning's program "The Doctor's Victim".
Rafik Abu-Ramadan denies the sexual assault allegations and has appealed the verdict. Uppdrag granskning has repeatedly sought Rafik Abu-Ramadan via email, phone and letter to give him the opportunity to respond to the allegations made against him.