Prisoners trapped in Assad’s underground ‘human slaughterhouse’ jail where dead inmates’ were pulped with ‘iron press’
The savage prison known as a “human slaughterhouse” still houses prisoners from the dictatorship of the overthrown Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad.
Following the fall of Assad’s administration, thousands of released prisoners returned to the streets of Damascus over the weekend; however, many are reportedly still battling for their life in covert underground cells.
The liberation of the horrific Sednaya jail in the nearby city was one of the largest rebel operations following the toppling of Assad.
Over the past few decades, the jail has come to represent Assad’s tyrannical rule.
Online footage seems to show rebel soldiers in Sednaya frantically attempting to breach jail walls.
Many of the walls are said to have electronic subterranean doors behind them that lead to prisoner-filled, gloomy bunkers.
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Those who were released claimed that the “red wards” were the name given to the concealed cells.
Efforts to gain access to the secret cells have been spearheaded by Damascus authorities, who are concerned that some may be “choking to death” due to inadequate ventilation.
The Damascus Countryside Governorate claims that they are also having trouble accessing a lot of the electronic doors that require secret passcodes.
According to the group, CCTV shows “more than 100,000 detainees” still confined within the facility.
The White Helmets, a Syrian civil defense organization, are currently looking into the survivors’ allegations and conducting “specialized emergency” searches to find the underground cells.
According to rights organizations, these secret rooms served as holding pens before the inmates were sent to be put to death.
Moment TODDLER is one of thousands freed from Assad jail by Syrian rebels battling to reach torture chamber ‘Red Prison’ Toddler is one of thousands freed from Assad’s prisons by rebels
Unsettling video recorded inside the freed prison also shows rebels surveying a room that looks like it might have been the site of killings.
There are reports of a device called the “Iron Execution Press” that has been characterized by human rights organizations as a death trap that crushes victims.
The guards would supposedly put the detainees on the iron press after they were executed.
Human rights organizations have long discussed the jail’s cruelty, but since the inmates were released on Sunday, fresh charges have surfaced.
“I haven’t seen the sun until today,” a 63-year-old ex-prisoner told AP, claiming he was scheduled to be executed on Sunday.
Thank God, he gave me new life so I wouldn’t be dead tomorrow.
We are housed in a dorm with twenty-five people jammed together, another man informed a rebel.
Because we are compelled to sit and stare down at all times, we only know a few of each other’s names.
“I had no name in the prison, just a number,” a third young Syrian guy told Al Jzeera. I lost my name, my identity, and my personality.
“My family thought I was killed when I was captured by the dictatorship.
Even Amnesty International used the term “human slaughterhouse” to describe it.
They asserted that officials at the top echelons of Assad’s regime had executed hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners.
The Missingin Sednaya jail (ADMSP), based in Turkey, and the Association of Detainees assert that the jail turned into a “death camp” following the outbreak of the civil conflict.
Between 2011 and 2018, they calculated that over 30,000 inmates had either been put to death or perished under horrifying conditions like malnutrition or torture.
Between 2018 and 2021, an additional 500 prisoners were put to death, according to ADMSP.
The allegations have consistently been rejected by the Syrian government as “baseless” and “devoid of truth.”
Some of the ways guards break detainees have been detailed in heartbreaking testimonies from thousands of released convicts over the past few years, as well as more from distraught relatives.
Numerous others assert that psychological and physical abuse occurred on a daily basis.
Some say they endured torture, severe beatings, and sexual assault while their relatives were never informed if they survived or died in prison.
According to reports, the conditions were just as savage, with overcrowding and a shortage of food, water, and medical supplies.
Assad’s jail networks have been the subject of years of reporting by the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM).
They discovered that torture techniques included burning, sexual assault, and electrocution.
The Flying Carpet was another ruthless tactic they said was used.
According to the IIIM, it comprised binding a prisoner to a wooden board and then beating them.
Rebels stormed the country’s prisons last weekend, and footage from the Syrian capital shows dozens of women and young men apparently walking free for the first time in years.
In one video, a toddler is even seen exiting a cell while rebels applaud.
The release of the prisoners coincides with a series of events that have overthrown Assad’s twenty-four-year dictatorship.
In a rapid and decisive onslaught, opposition troops captured Damascus, claiming victory and declaring the city “free of Assad.”
According to reports, the dictator left the capital on Sunday in a jet that vanished from radars.
He is currently protected by Russia after being granted asylum in Moscow.
Across Syria, the fall of Assad’s government sparked joy.
Thousands of people flocked to the capital’s streets, blazing flares and waving rebel flags.
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In symbolic acts of disobedience, statues of Assad and his late father, Hafez, were overturned.
Rebels recorded themselves robbing assets, such as expensive cars and designer goods, at Assad’s presidential palace.
Bashar Al-Assad’s downfall
This month, Assad’s rule came to an abrupt end when rebel forces took advantage of Syria’s depleted defenses to launch a rapid onslaught.
After years of cruel authoritarian rule, the capital was declared free as rebels overran Damascus in a quick campaign.
Iran was concerned with regional conflicts and Russia was embroiled in Ukraine, leaving Assad’s administration exposed.
In a symbolic victory, rebels overran Aleppo, and Assad left Damascus.
Amidst reports of its accident, Assad departed on a military aircraft before reappearing in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin offered him sanctuary.
It comes as a purported Russian plot to spread bogus information about a ‘plane disaster’ involving al-Assad has been revealed.
Russia “hid their trail” in aiding al-Assad’s escape by spreading false reports that he perished in an accident, according to the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security on X.
Opposition forces deposed Assad’s statues, seized control of important cities, and declared their intention to form a transitional administration.
Russia and Iran, allies, suffer a setback when Assad is overthrown since they both remove their assets from Syria.
As Syrians rejoice, challenges still exist, but after years of war, hope for a democratic future grows.
His downfall highlights the price of using terror to hold onto power and also marks the end of a dynastic dictatorship.
The country that Bashar al-Assad left behind is in ruins.
He shattered Syria’s society, destroyed its infrastructure, and left millions in misery.
Syria came to represent human misery, and Assad’s name will always be associated with some of the most heinous war crimes of the contemporary era.
Instead of being recognized as a modernizing reformer, the guy will be remembered as a symbol of unbridled brutality, his legacy etched in his own people’s blood.
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