Sednaya, Syria – For many years, Sednaya jail was solely ever talked about in hushed tones in Syria. Torture and loss of life had 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 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, stated: “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 accordance with Amnesty Worldwide.
Most of the prisoners had been freed every week in the past – on Saturday night and Sunday morning. However by Monday, hundreds of individuals had been nonetheless ready for information.
The scene contained in the jail was chaotic. Rumours had been circulating that there have been hidden underground sections of the jail which they might not entry.
A former prisoner informed Al Jazeera that army police had informed him there have been three underground flooring with hundreds of individuals held there. This week, folks had 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 the gang.
Somebody had damaged by and there have been hopes that they had discovered an entry to the rumoured cells. Folks started operating in the direction of the sound, shouting “God is the best”.
However, seconds later, the shouts died down and folks turned away – a false hope. There was no entrance.
“We’re ready, hoping that God will information us to seek out the underground jail, as a result of a lot of the prisoners who had been launched earlier than, they are saying the jail has three underground ranges,” Jubbu stated. “We solely noticed one ground.”
Jubbu stated he was trying to find 20 folks from his village, amongst them his cousins. All had been taken within the early years of the struggle, between 2011 and 2013 and had been believed to have ended up on the “slaughterhouse”.
However only a few hours later, a press release was launched by the Affiliation of Detainees and Lacking in Sednaya Jail which stated the final liberated prisoner had been launched at 11am the day earlier than.
The White Helmets, Syria’s Civil Defence pressure, 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 solution 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 previous, women and men, some holding kids – all climbed up the unpaved incline to the notorious jail.
Below the now-defeated regime, Sednaya was a army jail the place many had been held on costs of “terrorism” which, in actuality, meant had been arrested for any variety of arbitrary causes.
Most of the folks Al Jazeera spoke to there stated their relations had executed nothing flawed.
Some weren’t even certain their family members had been right here, that they had come as a result of they’d heard from somebody that their relative “may” be right here. Or that they had checked different prisons and nonetheless hadn’t discovered any hint.
Mohammad al-Bakour, 32, stated 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 house city close to Aleppo to Sednaya to seek for his brother.
“His kids are actually younger adults, they don’t keep in mind him and wouldn’t recognise him,” al-Bakour stated.
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 stated. “Many instances, they wished for loss of life however couldn’t discover it. Demise grew to become one of many prisoners’ desires.”
Life in limbo
At Sednaya, many prisoners stated that they had been tortured and raped. Others had been killed so the world received’t know what occurred to them.
The corpse of outstanding activist Mazen al-Hamada was present in a army hospital morgue exhibiting 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 communicate. The meals was scarce. They might take us outdoors, beat us, break us.
“Typically two folks would maintain us down and beat us. They might drag us round and take away our medication.”
Many inmates informed Amnesty Worldwide in 2016 that they weren’t allowed any contact with the surface world or to ship something to members of the family.
In lots of circumstances, households of prisoners had been informed incorrectly {that a} prisoner had died, in accordance with Amnesty’s report. Most inmates within the report had additionally witnessed at the very least one loss of life throughout their time in Sednaya.
With none confirmed proof of life or loss of life for his or her relations and pals, many Syrians proceed life in limbo. Virtually all of them say that with none official affirmation, they’ll proceed looking.
A type 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 previous; and of her brother, who was arrested 12 years in the past.
“My emotions are worry, terror. I need to see my son, I need to know if he’s alive or lifeless,” Salama stated. “This can be a ache in my coronary heart. If he’s lifeless, I may cease trying and begin attempting to just accept that, but when he’s alive, I’ll maintain trying to find him till my final breath, simply to know the place he’s.”
Extra reporting by Justin Salhani
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Sourcing information and pictures from aljazeera.com
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