Tens of Thousands of Prisoners Freed From Syria’s ‘Human Slaughterhouse’

Prisoners from the notoriously horrific Saydnaya military prison, referred to as the “human slaughterhouse” by human rights groups, were freed by Syrian rebels after the Assad regime collapsed, the New York Post reports. The prison is where the Assad regime gruesomely tortured and executed political enemies, and allegedly crushed bodies with an “iron press” after their bodies were hanged. Prisoners as young as toddlers were among those released.

“Amnesty International and other groups have claimed that dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, estimating that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016 alone,” according to The Post.

Rebels freed scores of prisoners who ran out celebrating the fall of the Assad regime, but there were also reports that “tens of thousands more prisoners” had yet to be freed because their cells were hidden below the prison. Five “specialized emergency teams” were sent to the prison by the Syrian civil defense group, known as the White Helmets, to try to find the hidden prisoners. A guide familiar with the layout of the prison is said to have gone with them to the site.

More than 100,000 detainees have been seen on CCTV monitors, The Post reports, and the Damascus Countryside Governate has been demanding former regime soldiers and prison guards give up the codes to electronic underground doors.

The Syrian prisons were infamous for the torture that occurred in them, and knowing that young children were even subjected to the barbaric conditions is heartbreaking.

A Syrian military defector, known as “Caesar,” was able to sneak out more than 53,000 photographs in 2013 showing the evidence of not just the “rampant torture,” but of the disease and starvation among the prisoners as well.

According to The Post, “The prison system was used to house Assad’s political opponents — but also served to stoke fears among the Syrian people as they heard horror stories about the facilities.”

The Syrian people lived in fear of the regime as the prison system was among its most terrifying aspects. Lina Khatib, associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the London think tank Chatham House, explained that the people of Syria lived in fear and struggled with anxiety due to Assad’s oppression and rule through terror. There was “wide mistrust among Syrians” because of it, Khatib added.

Heba, who is only going by her first name, told the AP that she is searching for her brother and brother-in-law among those released since they were detained in 2011 while reporting a stolen car.

“[The Assad government] burned out hearts,” she said, as she continued to search for the loved ones she lost years ago.