INSIDE ASSAD’S BRUTAL TORTURE PRISONS13 min read

FREE SYRIAN SERIES, DAY 5 – 6

DAMASCUS – LEBANON

Inside Assad’s Brutal Torture Prisons. F**k when I visited Syria three years ago, I asked my guide if I could get access to Sadnaya, the most notorious prison in Syria. It’s only now that I realise how much a ridiculous request that was!

IT HAS BEEN SAID THIS MACHINE WAS USED TO CRUSH THE DEAD BODIES FROM THE EXECUTION YARD

What went on inside these walls will truly shock you.

WHERE IS DAMASCUS?

Damascus

ANOTHER UXO

Our day got off to another interesting start. As we drove towards the gate of Sednaya we stopped at another one of the abandoned tanks left in a hurry by the Syrian military. In the back of the tank was an unexploded missile, the third one I have seen if this trip. Casually sitting in the back of the tank for anyone to pick up. You can really see how recent this country came out of a civil war.

Inside Assad’s Brutal Torture Prisons

SEDNAYA

On our drive up to the building I couldn’t help but think what would have been going through the minds of the new prisoners as they made the same journey. Little did I know that even they didn’t realise, and what they thought would have been paradise in comparison.

The building is super imposing, sitting at the top of the hill overlooking the surrounding area, it looks like something out of a horror movie. And it was.

Inside Assad’s Brutal Torture Prisons

REGISTRATION ROOM

The room we started was the registration room where new inmates were made to stand in small cages until they had their documents processed. It was believed that each inmate received over 100 lashes to the back before being nominated a cell, whichever one had ‘space’ to take them.

Inside Assad’s Brutal Torture Prisons

MAIN CELLS

The prisons had a strange layout, obviously the main cells were on each wing and then in the central section which links them all were more cells. An unusual place to have cells in a prison beyond an additional layer of security.

The cells were big but were full beyond belief. Each inmate had just enough room to lay down, likely squeezed in between others either side. Everything was still here, the clothes, blankets and food.

Inside Assad’s Brutal Torture Prisons

BATHROOMS

The bathrooms were horrendous. Each cell had to clean and maintain their own facilities, which explains why some of the sinks were fitted with random bits of cable and wire.

I have seen some shocking toilets in my days of travelling but these had got to be some of the worst, you could barely see the porcelain from the amount of stainage. The so-called shower was a tap about a foot off the ground and a small bucket. No towels, no laundry, no cutlery, no pillows, no beds and no sunlight. They were living in these cells almost 24hours a day.

RELEASE

Think how it must have felt when someone came to open up the cells, probably here to look for a family member or friend that had disappeared. No doubt the prisoners refused to believe it at first, possibly thinking it was another attempt at psychological torture by the regime.

UNDERGROUND CELLS

For years it was believed that the prison had huge cells or burial pits underground. Walking around you can see the holes dug in the ground by locals and NGOs keen to make sure they didn’t miss anyone. Huge numbers of prisoners were kept here but when it was liberated only a few hundred were found to be in the cells.

TORTURE ROOM

One room, accessed from the outside had a range of different carpentry machines which was strange because I don’t think there is 1 piece of wood in the entire complex. The floor however was a different story, the sludge could have been anything and if I was told it was blood I would have believed it. There have been widespread reports that this was the torture room many had expected to find.

EXECUTION YARD

To the back of the prison sits a row of blast walls with steel bars at the top used to fix the rope. Up to 50 prisoners would be executed here without the knowledge of their friends and families, leaving so many questions unanswered. Just being here was bizarre, how so many people were murdered without any notice or hope of a fair trial.

CRUSHING MACHINE

This might be speculation but I feel due to the location within the prison the press machine could well have been used for crushing inmates. They were murdering such a high number of inmates that there no doubt would have been challenges in transporting all of the bodies. So an isolated pressing machine located right beside the execution yard seems too much of a coincidence…

MASS GRAVE

There are many mass graves around Syria, that much is certain, especially due to the sheer number of bodies that were secretly murdered during the civil war. One of the largest was just outside Damascus, in a small garrison city, mainly occupied by Syrian military members and their families. This was the perfect place for them, away from the prying eyes of expecting locals and under the noses of those keeping Assad in power.

It’s a bizarre setup, a huge walled compound with nothing but a few old satellite trucks which clearly never worked and no doubt brought here to act as a smoke screen. However, Google maps shows the history of this site, how it was used and the trenches dug over the last 5-10 years. I do hope Syria will be able to identify some of the remains here and give at least some families closure they have been praying for.

TODAY’S YOUTUBE VIDEOS

If you want to see today from a different perspective, and catch a few different stories from the front row, then check out today’s YouTube videos below.

FINAL THOUGHTS

What an amazing trip, even at just 4 days it was enough to get a sense of the hope that many locals now have, it was a blessing to share this moment with them and I hope the world is much kinder to them than it has been so far.

SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
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NEXT UP

Heading over to Laos after getting some food poisoning!! Click to read.

This post is part of the Free Syrian Series, for the entire series click here or for episode 1, click here.

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