PRISONERS locked up under ousted Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s regime remain trapped inside a barbaric jail dubbed a “human slaughterhouse”.
Thousands of freed prisoners returned to the streets of Damascus over the weekend after Assad’s regime crumbled – but many are still said to be fighting for their lives inside secret underground cells.
CCTV footage claiming to show the hidden rooms inside the prison where thousands remain trapped[/caption]
Syrian civil defence group, the White Helmets, are inside the prison trying to locate the trapped prisoners underground[/caption]
The horrific iron press has been seen inside the Sednaya jail[/caption]
Footage shows rebels unlocking prison doors and freeing inmates inside Sednaya[/caption]
One of the biggest rebel operations after overthrowing Assad saw them liberate the harrowing Sednaya prison in the neighbouring city.
The jail had become synonymous with Assad’s reign of tyranny over the past couple of decades.
Footage online appears to show rebel forces desperately trying to break through prison walls in Sednaya.
They say that behind many of the walls sit electronic underground doors which led to dark bunkers filled with prisoners.
Those freed said the hidden cells had been called the “red prison”.
Authorities in Damascus have been leading the efforts to access the secret cells but fear some could be “choking to death” from a lack of ventilation.
They are also struggling to break through many of the electronic doors which have secret passcodes, according to the Damascus Countryside Governorate.
The group claim “more than 100,000 detainees” can be seen on CCTV still trapped inside the prison.
Syrian civil defence group, the White Helmets, are now investigating the claims by survivors and carrying out “specialised emergency” searches to locate the underground cells.
Rights groups believe these hidden room were used as holding pens before taking prisoners to be executed.
Chilling footage from inside the liberated jail also shows rebels looking around a room which appears to be where executions may have taken place.
A machine known as the “Iron Execution Press” can reportedly be seen which has been described by human right’s organisations as a death trap used to crush victims.
After prisoners were allegedly executed the guards would place them on the iron press.
The brutality of the jail has always been a topic of discussion for human rights groups but ever since prisoners were freed on Sunday more accusations have emerged.
One freed prisoner, a 63-year-old who says he was due to be executed on Sunday, told AP: “I haven’t seen the sun until today.
“Instead of being dead tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a new lease of life.”
Another man told a rebel: “We are kept in the dormitory, with 25 people crammed together.
“We only know some of each other’s names because we are forced to sit and look down at all times.”
Trapped inmates reach out of their cells to get the rebels to free them[/caption]
Teams continue to investigate the hellhole prion[/caption]
Freed prisoners have been seen flooding onto the streets of Damascus and neighbouring Sednaya[/caption]
A third young Syrian man told Al Jzeera: “I had no name in the prison, just a number. I lost my identity, my name and my character.
“I was taken by the regime, and my family assumed I was dead.”
It was even labelled as a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International.
They claimed that hundreds – if not thousands – of inmates had been executed by authorities at the highest level of Assad’s government.
The Turkey-based Association of Detainees and The Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) also claim that the prison became a “death camp” after the start of the civil war.
They estimated more than 30,000 prisoners had been executed or died in horrific circumstances, such as torture or starvation, between 2011 and 2018.
Around 500 more inmates had been executed between 2018 and 2021, ADMSP added.
The Syrian government has always dismissed the claims as “baseless” and “devoid of truth”.
Harrowing accounts from thousands of inmates released across the last few years and even more from heartbroken families have described some of the methods used by guards to break prisoners.
Many claim physical and psychological abuse was a daily occurrence.
Some claim they were badly beaten, sexually abused and forced to withstand torture all while their families were never told if they lived or died behind bars.
The conditions were said to be equally as barbaric with overcrowding and a lack of food, water and medical supplies all being reported.
Members of the Syrian diaspora have set up a flag at the Syrian embassy in Moscow[/caption]
Separate footage showed rebels ‘opening cells one by one’ to rescue men allegedly trapped in a area of Saydnaya prison known as the ‘Red Prison’[/caption]
Satellite images of the hellhole Sednaya prison[/caption]
The International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) have spent years reporting on Assad’s prison networks.
They found that electrocution, sexual violence and burning were all torture methods used.
Another brutal ploy they described as being done was dubbed the “Flying carpet”.
It involved strapping down a prisoner to a wooden board before beating them, the IIIM claims.
Footage from the Syrian capital shows dozens of women and young men reportedly walking free for the first time in years after rebels stormed the national prisons this weekend.
A clip even shows a toddler leaving a cell as rebels cheered on.
The prison liberation comes amid a cascade of events that have toppled Assad’s 24-year rule.
After seizing Damascus in a swift and decisive offensive, rebel forces declared victory and announced that the city was “free of Assad.”
The dictator fled the capital on Sunday, reportedly aboard a plane that disappeared from radars.
He has been given refuge in Moscow and is currently under Russian protection.
The collapse of Assad’s regime ignited celebrations across Syria.
In the capital, thousands poured into the streets, waving rebel flags and lighting flares.
Statues of Assad and his late father, Hafez, were toppled in symbolic acts of defiance.
At Assad’s presidential palace, rebels filmed themselves looting valuables, including luxury vehicles and designer goods.
Bashar Al-Assad’s downfall
THE end of Assad’s reign came abruptly this month as rebel forces launched a lightning offensive, exploiting weakened Syrian defences.
Rebels captured Damascus in a lightning campaign, declaring the capital “free” and marking the end of years of brutal authoritarian rule.
With Russia mired in Ukraine and Iran preoccupied with regional conflicts, Assad’s regime was left vulnerable.
Rebels stormed Aleppo, marking a symbolic victory, and Assad fled Damascus.
Assad left aboard a military plane amid rumours of its crash before resurfacing in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin granted him asylum.
It comes as an apparent Russian conspiracy to distribute false news about an al-Assad ‘aircraft accident’ has been exposed.
The Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security claimed on X that Russia “hid their trail” in assisting al-Assad’s escape by circulating fake claims that he died in a crash.
Meanwhile, opposition forces took control of key cities, toppled Assad’s statues, and announced plans for a transitional government.
The fall of Assad deals a blow to allies Russia and Iran, with both withdrawing assets from Syria.
Challenges remain as Syrians celebrate, but hopes rise for a democratic future after years of war.
His fall not only signals the collapse of a dynastic dictatorship but also underscores the cost of clinging to power through terror.
Bashar al-Assad has left behind a shattered nation.
He decimated Syria’s infrastructure, fractured its society, and plunged millions into despair.
Syria became synonymous with human suffering, and Assad’s name will forever be tied to some of the worst war crimes of the modern era.
The man once seen as a modernising reformer will be remembered instead as a symbol of unchecked brutality, his legacy written in the blood of his own people.
A little boy is seen leaving his cell in Syria’s infamous Saydnaya military prison[/caption]
Rebel Syrian fighters in Damascus after taking control from Assad’s government[/caption]
