Sednaya, Syria – For many years, Sednaya jail was solely ever talked about in hushed tones in Syria. Torture and demise have been recognized to be routine on this place everybody referred to as the “human slaughterhouse”.
However on the night of December 7, that every one ended when Syrian opposition fighters burst by way of doorways and liberated the prisoners.
Very quickly, hundreds of Syrians descended on the jail within the mountains north of Damascus, desperately looking for information of the family members they believed had disappeared behind the jail’s partitions.
Standing in entrance of the jail, Jumaa Jubbu, who’s from al-Kafir in Idlib, mentioned: “The liberation [of Syria] is an indescribable pleasure.
“However the pleasure is incomplete as a result of there are [hundreds of thousands] of lacking detainees, and we haven’t heard any information about them in any respect.”
False hope
Sednaya’s two buildings could have been holding as many as 20,000 prisoners, in line with Amnesty Worldwide.
Lots of the prisoners have been freed every week in the past – on Saturday night and Sunday morning. However by Monday, hundreds of individuals have been nonetheless ready for information.
The scene contained in the jail was chaotic. Rumours have been circulating that there have been hidden underground sections of the jail which they might not entry.
A former prisoner advised Al Jazeera that navy police had advised him there have been three underground flooring with hundreds of individuals held there. This week, folks have been utilizing water conductors within the hopes of discovering gaps within the partitions or flooring.
At one level, a loud bang rang out from a far wall of the jail and shouts unfold by way of the group.
Somebody had damaged by way of and there have been hopes they’d discovered an entry to the rumoured cells. Folks started working in direction of the sound, shouting “God is the best”.
However, seconds later, the shouts died down and other people turned away – a false hope. There was no entrance.
“We’re ready, hoping that God will information us to search out the underground jail, as a result of a lot of the prisoners who have been launched earlier than, they are saying the jail has three underground ranges,” Jubbu mentioned. “We solely noticed one flooring.”
Jubbu mentioned he was looking for 20 folks from his village, amongst them his cousins. All had been taken within the early years of the warfare, between 2011 and 2013 and have been believed to have ended up on the “slaughterhouse”.
However only a few hours later, an announcement was launched by the Affiliation of Detainees and Lacking in Sednaya Jail which mentioned the final liberated prisoner had been launched at 11am the day earlier than.
The White Helmets, Syria’s Civil Defence drive, continued to look however lastly suspended operations on Tuesday after discovering no extra prisoners.
‘The smells are indescribable’
Syrian opposition fighters liberated Aleppo, Hama, and Homs on their strategy to Damascus. In every metropolis, they opened up the jail doorways and liberated tens of hundreds of individuals.
However extra stay lacking.
On the street to Sednaya, folks drove so far as they might earlier than the crush of individuals compelled them to park and proceed on foot.
Younger and outdated, women and men, some holding youngsters – all climbed up the unpaved incline to the notorious jail.
Below the now-defeated regime, Sednaya was a navy jail the place many have been held on prices of “terrorism” which, in actuality, meant had been arrested for any variety of arbitrary causes.
Lots of the folks Al Jazeera spoke to there mentioned their kinfolk had performed nothing fallacious.
Some weren’t even positive their family members have been right here, they’d come as a result of they’d heard from somebody that their relative “would possibly” be right here. Or they’d checked different prisons and nonetheless hadn’t discovered any hint.
Mohammad al-Bakour, 32, mentioned his brother Abdullah was arrested in 2012 for protesting peacefully in Aleppo. He has not seen him since.
At 2am the earlier morning – across the time al-Assad fled Damascus for Moscow – al-Bakour headed straight from his residence city close to Aleppo to Sednaya to seek for his brother.
“His youngsters at the moment are younger adults, they don’t bear in mind him and wouldn’t recognise him,” al-Bakour mentioned.
Inside, he searched the jail for any signal of Abdullah.
“The smells in there are indescribable. The struggling of the prisoners inside is unimaginable,” he mentioned. “Many occasions, they wished for demise however couldn’t discover it. Loss of life turned one of many prisoners’ goals.”
Life in limbo
At Sednaya, many prisoners mentioned they’d been tortured and raped. Others have been killed so the world received’t know what occurred to them.
The corpse of distinguished activist Mazen al-Hamada was present in a navy hospital morgue displaying indicators of torture.
One other former prisoner, Youssef Abu Wadie, described to Al Jazeera how the guards handled inmates: “They might knock on the door, yell, ‘Quiet, you canine!’ and wouldn’t allow us to converse. The meals was scarce. They might take us exterior, beat us, break us.
“Generally two folks would maintain us down and beat us. They might drag us round and take away our drugs.”
Many inmates advised Amnesty Worldwide in 2016 that they weren’t allowed any contact with the skin world or to ship something to relations.
In lots of instances, households of prisoners have been advised incorrectly {that a} prisoner had died, in line with Amnesty’s report. Most inmates within the report had additionally witnessed not less than one demise throughout their time in Sednaya.
With none confirmed proof of life or demise for his or her kinfolk and pals, many Syrians proceed life in limbo. Virtually all of them say that with none official affirmation, they are going to proceed looking out.
A kind of folks is 50-year-old Lamis Salama. She was additionally at Sednaya on Monday searching for information of her son, who had been detained seven years beforehand and would now be 33 years outdated; and of her brother, who was arrested 12 years in the past.
“My emotions are concern, terror. I need to see my son, I need to know if he’s alive or lifeless,” Salama mentioned. “This can be a ache in my coronary heart. If he’s lifeless, I may cease trying and begin making an attempt to just accept that, but when he’s alive, I’ll hold looking for him till my final breath, simply to know the place he’s.”
Further reporting by Justin Salhani
