Rescue groups and family members of disappeared individuals in Syria are looking for their family members on the notorious Sednaya Prison in Damascus after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities.
An intense search was below method on the jail on Monday for “hidden underground cells, reportedly holding detainees”, mentioned the White Helmets rescue group, which dispatched emergency groups to the ability.
Al-Assad’s police state was recognized for generations as one of many harshest within the Center East, holding tons of of 1000’s of political prisoners.
Bewildered and elated prisoners poured out of Syrian jails on Sunday as al-Assad’s authorities collapsed. They shouted with pleasure as they emerged from one of many world’s most infamous detention programs.
All through Syria’s battle, which started in 2011, safety forces held tons of of 1000’s of individuals in detention camps the place worldwide human rights organisations mentioned abuses have been rampant. Households have been typically advised nothing of the destiny of their family members.
As rebels seized one metropolis after one other in a blistering eight-day marketing campaign, prisons have been typically amongst their first goals. Essentially the most infamous prisons in and round Damascus itself have been lastly opened on the rebellion’s remaining night time and the early hours of Sunday.
All throughout Syria, households wept as they have been reunited with youngsters, siblings, spouses and oldsters who vanished years in the past into the impregnable gulag of the al-Assad dynasty’s five-decade rule.
