AP PHOTOS: Glimpses of horror emerge inside Syria’s Saydnaya prison, dubbed ‘The Slaughterhouse’
AP PHOTOS: Glimpses of horror emerge inside Syria’s Saydnaya prison, dubbed ‘The Slaughterhouse’
SAYDNAYA, Syria (AP) — Behind the coils of razor wire and concrete walls, glimpses of the horror emerge from the warren of dank, airless corridors of what has been dubbed “The Slaughterhouse.”
A coarse, heavy rope lies on the ground, tied into a hangman’s noose. Prosthetic legs are scattered outside a cell, the fate of their former owners unknown. In one cell, names are scrawled all over the walls – for some, perhaps the only testament they were ever there.
This is Saydnaya military prison, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that has become synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the rule of now ousted President Bashar Assad.
For decades notorious for its brutality, only now is the true extent of what happened there coming to light. Thousands of people are believed to have died within its walls, executed or tortured to death.
Humidity runs down the walls. The air is heavy with the smell of the sweat of a thousand people. The warren of corridors leads to windowless underground cells, where a mixture of what appears to be mud and sewage covers the floor of one section. Even in cells that do have a window, it has been painted over or blocked to impede the sunlight. Cobwebs hang from the corners.
Some cells were clearly used for solitary confinement. In one, there was nothing more than tiny holes in the metallic door. Inside it was icy and pitch black.
On the upper floors, thin mattresses, handmade pillows, scraps of food and medicine are scattered on the floor of endless cells. Many of the cells and corridors have been burned out. The acrid stench of smoke, burned clothes and hair still lingers, nearly two weeks after rebel fighters stormed the prison and released the thousands of people held there in appalling conditions.
In one cell, the floor was completely covered with discarded shoes, clothes and underwear. They seemed to have been there a long time, traces of lime powder sprinkled on top.
Since its inmates were freed, thousands of people have flocked to the prison, desperately searching for loved ones who have been missing for years, in some cases even decades. They pore over documents that lie scattered on floors, and use heavy machinery to dig up the grounds outside, searching for mass graves.
Inside, crews for days tried to punch through concrete walls, spurred by suspicions of the existence of cells beneath the prison where inmates might still be trapped. But no hidden cells have been found.
Syria’s prisons under the rule of Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, were infamous for their harsh conditions. Torture was systemic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees. Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.
In 2013, a Syrian military defector known as “Caesar” smuggled out over 53,000 photographs that human rights groups say showed clear evidence of rampant torture, and also disease and starvation in Syria’s prisons.
Saydnaya was particularly feared. In 2017, Amnesty International estimated that 10,000-20,000 people were being held there “from every sector of society.” It said they were effectively slated for “extermination.”
Thousands were killed in frequent mass executions, Amnesty reported, citing testimony from freed prisoners and prison officials. Prisoners were subjected to constant torture, intense beatings and rape. Almost daily, guards did rounds of the cells to collect bodies of inmates who had died overnight from injuries, disease or starvation. Some inmates fell into psychosis and starved themselves, the human rights group said.
___
Abby Sewell in Damascus and Elena Becatoros in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, contributed.
By LEO CORREA
Associated Press
