Syrians scour torture prison in hunt for the disappeared

Families of those imprisoned by Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime desperately searched the filthy cells of Syria’s most notorious prison yesterday for any signs of their loved ones as the country came to terms with the toppling of his rule.

- BEL TREW

In the Sednaya prison, referred to by rights groups as a “human slaughterhouse”, thousands of people are believed to have been detained, tortured or executed during Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011. Sitting just north of Damascus, it became the focus for hundreds of families demanding answers about what happened to their relatives.

The search for prisoners comes as Israel, US and Turkey launched airstrikes against sites across the country to protect their interests after rebels, led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir alSham (HTS) forced Assad to flee, while the deposed Syrian president’s former backers Russia and Iran also suggesting they would reach out to the rebels – with Moscow wary of the fate of its military bases in the country.

At the prison, countless families were trawling dark corridors and hidden cells in the labyrinthine complex for a trace of loved ones detained for attending protests, defying authorities or simply voicing discontent. Ahmed Najjar had come to Damascus from Aleppo, hoping to find his brother’s two children, seized by Assad’s security forces in 2012. “We’re looking. They’re saying there’s an underground prison,” he said.

In the wake of thousands spilling out of the prison having been freed on Sunday rumours had spread that thousands more inmates were still imprisoned in underground cells that could not be reached. The White Helmets rescue organisation, which for years has dug through fallen buildings after air strikes, deployed a team but yesterday afternoon they said they had yet to find a sign of such cells.

Several times, a breakthrough revealed a hidden hallway, prompting bursts of gunfire from rebels to alert the thousands waiting. Cries would go up from the crowd, such as “My son, I’m coming, I’m coming” or “God, please don’t disappoint me”.