Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination — substantive hearing
Struck off the register
The regulator’s term: erasure
What does “struck off the register” mean?
Being struck off (the regulator calls this "erasure") removes the practitioner from the register. They are no longer permitted to practise this profession in the UK. Erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years, but is otherwise indefinite.
Concerning Baraa Almasri, doctor (General Medical Council 7645372).
Decision date: 10 March 2026 · Hearing started 2 March 2026 and ended 10 March 2026
In plain English
The MPTS tribunal found that Dr Baraa Almasri's fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct. It found that, between January 2019 and December 2020, he exchanged WhatsApp messages with a man later sentenced to life imprisonment for grievous bodily harm offences, and that his messages were capable of encouraging or assisting those offences. The tribunal also found that he knew the activities were illegal, failed to inform any authority, and refused to give the police access to his devices. It directed that his name be erased from the medical register.
Charges
It was alleged that, as a result of his involvement in illegal activities, Mr A was convicted of criminal offences (conspiracy to cause GBH, GBH with intent x5, and acquiring/using/possessing criminal property). Between 19 January 2019 and 5 December 2020, Dr Almasri received WhatsApp messages from Mr A informing him of the activities and sent messages engaging in conversation about them. His messages were capable of encouraging and/or assisting the commission of one or more of those offences. He knew one or more of the activities were illegal; he failed to inform the police or any other relevant authority; and he failed to cooperate with a formal inquiry by not providing the police with pin codes for his electronic devices when requested.
Findings
The Tribunal found all paragraphs of the Allegation proved on the balance of probabilities. It found that Dr Almasri's WhatsApp exchanges with Mr A over more than a year were capable of encouraging and/or assisting the commission of one or more of the offences for which Mr A was convicted, and that Dr Almasri knew the activities were illegal, failed to report them, and failed to cooperate with the police investigation. The Tribunal determined that his conduct amounted to serious professional misconduct that fell far short of the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner under Good Medical Practice. It concluded that all three limbs of public protection were engaged, that there was a substantive risk of repetition given the absence of any insight or remediation, and that Dr Almasri's fitness to practise is currently impaired by reason of misconduct.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Aggravating factors
The Tribunal noted that Dr Almasri's actions and omissions were persistent and repeated over a significant length of time, between 19 January 2019 and 4 December 2020. The activities of Mr A were so serious that he received a life sentence. Dr Almasri did not intervene, did not report the matters, and did not discourage Mr A. When the criminal investigation was undertaken, he refused to cooperate by not providing his pin codes for his electronic devices. The Tribunal also identified persistent lack of insight as Dr Almasri provided no engagement, reflection or remediation.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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