On the inside of the “Slaughterhouse” – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

Mud, cobwebs, faeces and an intense stench. That is the reality that confronts news in the tiny cells inside the “Slaughter House”. Life behind the walls 32-year-old Ammar Rahim al-Mahmoud is back in prison, which brings back bad memories. – They captured me, beat and tortured me. Look, these are cigarette brands from 2012, he says and folds up the red sweater to show the brand marks to news. This is what it looks like on the inside of the notorious Sednaya prison in Syria. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news The military prison on the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus, was run by the Bashar al-Assad regime until rebel groups overthrew the dictator on Sunday last week. The first prisoners came to the prison in 1987. In January 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated that 30,000 detainees had been brutally killed here since the start of the civil war in the country. The Sednaya prison has been nicknamed “The Butcher’s House” and is located three miles north of Damascus. Amnesty International has documented the use of torture, ill-treatment, executions and disappearances here for years. It was Amnesty International that gave the prison the name “Slaughterhouse” in a report from 2017. – This was used to hit people in the back of the head and torture inmates, says Bassam al-Ali, holding up a cane he has found in one of the cells. Bassam al-Ali with the cane he says was used to torture the inmates. Photo: KHATCHIG AWEDIKIAN / news Empty cells After the Assad regime was overthrown by rebel groups on Sunday last week, thousands of Syrian families have made the trip to the prison in the hope of finding their loved ones. What they met were empty cells. For 12 long years, Ahmed Hassan al-Omar has been waiting to see his father and uncle again. – I don’t know where they are, whether they are alive or dead. I have no idea, he despairs. Thousands of inmates are now missing – and Syrian families are demanding answers to what has happened to their loved ones. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news The 28-year-old told news that both his father and uncle were arrested in 2012, but the family never found out why. Nor have they received any kind of sign of life in all these years. Now Ahmed has camped outside the prison together with hundreds of others to get answers to what has happened to their family members. – I am asking God for a sign. Finding traces of them. Dress them up. We need information to know if they are still alive, he says despairingly. Search and rescue teams have gone through every shaft, valve and sewer opening in recent days in the hope of finding prisoners in hidden rooms or secret basement floors. This search has now ended without success. Published 12/12/2024, at 21.52



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