Syrians are searching for their missing relatives in liberated Saydnaya prison, a notorious military complex that once held tens of thousands of detainees under Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Jwan Omar, a Syrian from Turkey, traveled to the prison on Sunday to look for his father-in-law, who disappeared in 2013 after being arrested by the regime. However, he was disappointed to find that many prisoners had been moved to another location and couldn’t be found.
Omar’s wife has been searching for her father for 11 years, and her hopes were raised when she heard about the prisoners’ release. But after yesterday’s news, she broke down in tears.
Many families, including the Nadaf family from Idlib, are also searching for their loved ones missing in Saydnaya prison. Thaer Nadaf was arrested in 2011 and has been missing for 12 years. His mother, Fayzah, believes he is still alive but being held in an underground section of the complex.
A doctor who recently left the prison reported that Thaer was still alive, fueling hopes for his family. The mosque 20km away from Saydnaya is now a meeting place for released prisoners and their families. However, many are struggling to cope with their new reality, including two men who were just released and couldn’t even answer basic questions about themselves.
The Assad regime imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people in detention camps, where human rights groups say torture was common. Saydnaya prison is now being described as a “death camp” by the Association of Detainees and The Missing in Saydnaya Prison (ADMSP) group. As Syrians continue to search for their loved ones, it remains uncertain how many will be reunited with their families in the end.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxd87q54yno