'The human slaughterhouse': Brutal torture in al-Assad's prisons comes to light

Before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, rebel jihadists in Syria released some prisoners being held in Syrian prisons. Some of them had been imprisoned for decades.

One of the prisons raided by the rebel jihadists was Saydnaya, known as the “human slaughterhouse,” north of Damascus, Syria's capital, where the regime tortured opponents and also imprisoned women, children and the elderly.

In a recently released video, women and a small child are shown being freed. According to Syrian reports, the child was born in prison, where he stayed with his mother.

Another prisoner did not remember what he looked like, so he was surprised to discover that his hair had turned gray.

Brutal torture

In that prison, it is said that mass hangings, torture and sexual abuse took place.

One of the videos released shows an iron press that was apparently used to break bones and execute prisoners.

It also shows a red rope used to torture prisoners during interrogations.

Another video shows an emaciated prisoner chained to a metal bed inside one of the dark and empty rooms of the prison.

Other images released show a man crawling on the floor because he could no longer walk, most likely due to the torture he had been subjected to in prison.

Prison survivors said they were kept in the dark on stone floors that were covered in blood and sweat. They added that blankets and clothes were confiscated if they spoke or slept "without permission." They also forced family members to torture each other or be executed.

In statements to The New York Times, some survivors claimed that they were stuffed into tires and beaten until they lost consciousness, and then woke up in an icy corridor.

Another survivor remarked that he watched a teenager agonize for 21 days until he died after being doused with fuel and set on fire by members of al-Assad's forces during an interrogation.

Tens of thousands killed as a result of torture

The secretive high-security prison was a symbol of the brutal torture by the al-Assad regime. In fact, Amnesty International estimated that the prison once held 20,000 inmates.

The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) noted that more than 30,000 people died there from execution, torture, lack of medical care or starvation between 2011 and 2013. It added that at least 500 people lost their lives between 2018 and 2021.