Just north of Damascus, in Saydnaya military prison—infamously called the "human slaughterhouse" and a symbol of Assad’s regime—efforts are underway to uncover secret underground cells where prisoners remain trapped after access routes were blocked.
On Monday, members of the White Helmets searched for hidden cells based on accounts from survivors. Five specialized teams, including search-and-rescue personnel, wall-breaching experts, search dogs and physicians, were deployed to the site.
Rebel forces free inmates at Saydnaya prison
Since the start of the 2011 uprising against Assad, armed opposition forces and non-violent protesters were incarcerated there, as were military officers suspected of disloyalty to the dictator. According to Amnesty International, some 13,000 people were hanged in the prison between 2011 and 2015.
As the insurgents swept toward Damascus, thousands of prisoners were freed from jails and on Sunday, the rebels reached Saydnaya. Women detainees, some with their children, screamed as men broke the locks off their cell doors. “Don’t be afraid … Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?” said one of the rebels as he tried to rush streams of women out of their jam-packed tiny cells.
Hundreds of men were seen running barefoot from the prison, some wearing minimal clothing. Many gestured with their hands to indicate the number of years they had been imprisoned, their faces etched with disbelief and trauma.
However, freed prisoners told rebels about hidden underground cells in the Red Block, a section reportedly reserved for high-priority detainees. Doors to these cells required codes known only to senior officials, leaving captives trapped. Rebels inspected the prison’s control room and discovered evidence bolstering suspicions about the existence of secret cells. While some were breached, others remain out of reach.
According to reports, some of the cells were found and breached by the rebels but others remain out of reach.
One former prisoner, speaking to Al Jazeera, described being packed with 25 others into a tiny cell. “We sat with our heads bowed and didn’t even know the names of those around us,” he said. Arrested in Aleppo in 2019 for evading military service, he endured beatings, including being struck on the head with a hammer. A day before Assad’s fall, guards removed dozens of detainees, warning some they would be executed.
Bashar Barhoum woke in his dungeon prison cell in Damascus at dawn Sunday, thinking it would be the last day of his life.
The 63-year-old writer was supposed to have been executed after being imprisoned for seven months.
But he soon realized the men at the door weren’t from former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious security forces, ready to take him to his death. Instead, they were rebels coming to set him free.
“I haven’t seen the sun until today,” Barhoum told The Associated Press after walking in disbelief through the streets of Damascus. “Instead of being dead tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a new lease of life.”
Barhoum couldn’t find his cellphone and belongings in the prison so set off to find a way to tell his wife and daughters that he’s alive and well.
Torture, executions and starvation in Syria’s prisons
Syria’s prisons have been infamous for their harsh conditions. Torture is systematic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees. Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.
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In 2013, a Syrian military defector, known as “Caesar,” smuggled out over 53,000 photographs that human rights groups say showed clear evidence of rampant torture, but also disease and starvation in Syria’s prison facilities.
Syria’s feared security apparatus and prisons did not only serve to isolate Assad’s opponents, but also to instill fear among his own people said Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the London think tank Chatham House.
“Anxiety about being thrown in one of Assad’s notorious prisons created wide mistrust among Syrians,” Khatib said. “Assad nurtured this culture of fear to maintain control and crush political opposition.”
Families seek loved ones who have been missing for years
Omar Alshogre, who was detained for three years and survived relentless torture, watched in awe from his home far from Syria as videos showed dozens of detainees fleeing.
“A hundred democracies in the world had done nothing to help them, and now a few military groups came down and broke open prison after prison,” Alshogre, a human rights advocate who now resides in Sweden and the U.S., told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, families of detainees and the disappeared skipped celebrations of the downfall of the Assad dynasty. Instead, they waited outside prisons and security branch centers, hoping their loved ones would be there. They had high expectations for the newcomers who will now run the battered country.
“This happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of prison and know where he is,” said Bassam Masri. “I have been searching for him for two hours. He has been detained for 13 years,” since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011.
Rebels struggled to control the chaos as crowds gathered by the Court of Justice in Damascus.
Heba, who only gave her first name while speaking to the AP, said she was looking for her brother and brother-in-law who were detained while reporting a stolen car in 2011 and hadn’t been seen since.
“They took away so many of us,” said Heba, whose mother’s cousin also disappeared. “We know nothing about them ... They (the Assad government) burned our hearts.”