Advertisement

Executions, torture, rapes: inside Assad’s ‘human slaughterhouse’ Saydnaya jail in Syria

Rebels freed more than 4,000 inmates from the notorious prison dubbed ‘human abattoir’, revealing the horrors within its walls

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
People keep warm around a bonfire outside the Saydnaya prison in Damascus on December 11. Photo: AFP

Saydnaya prison north of the Syrian capital Damascus has become a notorious symbol of the inhumane abuses of the Assad clan, especially since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011.

Advertisement

The prison complex was the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomising the atrocities committed against his opponents by ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

When Syrian rebels entered Damascus last Sunday after their lightning advance that toppled the Assad government, they announced they had seized Saydnaya and freed its inmates.

Some had been incarcerated there since the 19080s.

According to the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Saydnaya Prison (ADMSP), the rebels liberated more than 4,000 people.

Advertisement

Photographs of haggard and emaciated inmates, some helped by colleagues because they were too weak to leave their cells, were circulated worldwide.

Advertisement