The overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has led to a massive influx of people searching for loved ones who went missing during his rule. Families of Syrians converged on Sednaya prison, one of the most notorious detention centers, in hopes of finding answers about their relatives’ fates.
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of people vanished without explanation, with many ending up in Assad’s network of prisons, where they were tortured and killed. As the regime fell, families rushed to Sednaya prison, only to find that hundreds of prisoners had already been released.
The prison complex, which sits atop a hill outside Damascus, is surrounded by barbed wire and land mines. Rebels who entered the complex on Saturday night set the fields ablaze in an effort to clear out the mines.
Many families were devastated not to find their loved ones among the released prisoners. Rumors of secret cells three stories underground fueled a desperate search for anyone still imprisoned. Despite excavations and searches, no evidence of hidden rooms was found.
However, the conditions within the prison cells told a tale of horror and deprivation. Concrete floors were caked in layers of dirt, and many had been used to contain dozens of people at a time. Forensic examiners have identified 38 bodies discovered at Al-Moujtahed Hospital, where families gathered outside, hoping for news about their relatives.
As they waited, families scoured Telegram channels for updates on the dead. Many were shocked by the images of corpse after corpse, which seemed to contradict their preconceived notions of what their loved ones looked like when they disappeared.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/world/middleeast/syria-prisoners-dead.html