The significant attention and clear focus of social media users on Syrian prisons were evident during each stage of the advance of Syrian opposition factions and their control over provinces previously under the rule of the ousted Syrian regime, led by former President Bashar al-Assad. This began on November 27, 2024, with the announcement of the military operation “Deterring Aggression” and continued until the fall of the capital, Damascus, on 8/12/2024.
The initial statement by the opposition factions on 8/12/2024, broadcasted on state television, declared the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and also announced the release of all detainees from the prisons.
Despite reports from international organizations and firsthand accounts regarding the killings and torture in the prisons of the ousted Syrian regime, particularly in Sednayah prison, Assad repeatedly denied the torture and killings in his prisons at various times through media.
How did Assad deny allegations of killings and torture in his prisons?
In interviews with various media outlets, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad consistently denied any killings or torture in his prisons. One notable example was an interview with Yahoo News‘ chief investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff, in 2017, where Isikoff asked Assad about a report from Amnesty International mentioning between 5,000 and 13,000 mass hangings, terrifying conditions, and trials of detainees who were blindfolded and given one to three-minute trials without lawyers, in addition to generally secret trials.
Assad denied torture or killings allegations in Sednayah prison, questioning the credibility of Amnesty International and asserting that the report was entirely without evidence, relying only on interviews. He further stated that the world was living in an era of “Fake News.”
When asked whether international monitors could visit Sednayah to investigate these reports, Assad responded that any visit would depend on the credibility of the concerned organization, and that it was not for just any organization to visit, as such a visit would be used to further demonize the Syrian government.
The interviewer also mentioned a Syrian woman in Spain who had filed a lawsuit accusing nine security and intelligence officials of committing human rights violations, as her brother had disappeared in a Syrian prison. He added that the lawyers who filed the case had gathered 3,000 pages of evidence and over 50,000 photographs showing the bodies of emaciated and tortured detainees, taken by a former government photographer.
Assad’s response was clear: “Who verified those photos? Who verified that they were not manipulated with Photoshop or something like that?” The interviewer confirmed that the woman had identified her brother in the photos, but Assad insisted that they were mere claims. Regarding the photos, Assad again dismissed them as propaganda and “Fake News” aimed at demonizing the Syrian government.
In a 2019 interview with RT, Bashar al-Assad was asked about the allegation that the Syrian government had ordered the killing of child Hamza al-Khateeb and the torture he allegedly endured. Assad denied it, stating that he was killed and transferred to the hospital, but no one knew how he died or who shot him.
When asked about Branch 251, a unit who tortures protesters, Assad again denied allegations of torture units in Syria, claiming the regime did not use torture, though he conceded that individual incidents might occur anywhere in the world.
International Organizations and Eyewitness Testimonies Before Regime’s Fall
Amnesty International:
In a report published on 7/2/2017, titled “Syria: Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Systematic Extermination at Sednayah Prison,” Amnesty conducted interviews with 84 people between December 2015 and December 2016.
The interviews included 31 former detainees from Sednayah, four former staff or guards who had worked at the prison, three former Syrian judges, 3 doctors who had worked at the Tishreen Military Hospital, four Syrian lawyers, 17 international and local experts on detention in Syria, and 22 family members of detainees.
The report revealed that the number of detainees in Sednayah ranged from 10,000 to 20,000, divided into two detention centers: the Red Building, primarily housing civilians, and the White Building, which mostly housed former Syrian army officers and soldiers.
Amnesty documented the secret executions of thousands of detainees in the Red Building through mass hangings after trials that lasted between one and three minutes. The report estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 individuals were executed outside the law in Sednayah between September 2011 and December 2015.
The report also noted that detainees in the Red Building were subjected to regular torture, including severe beatings and frequent sexual abuse. They were deprived of food, water, medical care, and personal hygiene, leading to widespread disease and infections.
Human Rights Watch:
In April 2022, Human Rights Watch stated that Syria’s government, by passing a law criminalizing torture, which punishes offenders with death in cases of rape or death, had made it difficult to take the law seriously, as torture remained rampant in Syria’s state-run facilities.
Human Rights Watch also pointed to 53,275 photographs leaked by a defector, known as “Caesar,” in August 2013, which provided “irrefutable evidence of widespread torture, starvation, beatings, and disease in Syrian government detention centers.” Despite widespread condemnation, the Syrian government did little to stop the use of torture by its security forces.
In a report published in July 2012, titled “Syria’s Torture Chambers: Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Enforced Disappearances in Syrian Detention Centers Since March 2011,” Human Rights Watch conducted more than 200 interviews with former detainees and defectors from the Syrian army and intelligence agencies between April 2011 and May 2012, focusing on 27 Syrian detention centers.
The report described the conditions of detention, stating that prisoners were kept in overcrowded cells, often blindfolded and handcuffed, with some being kept naked for days. All detainees were denied adequate food, water, regular access to toilets, and proper hygiene.
Former detainees reported undergoing severe torture, including beatings, sexual violence, and witnessing the torture of others. Defectors from the intelligence agencies who had witnessed or participated in the torture confirmed these testimonies.
The report documented various forms of torture, including prolonged beatings, whipping, hanging, “the banana” (a form of suspension), electrical shocks, mock executions, threats of death and rape, and forced standing for hours or days, as well as other painful and humiliating positions.
After “Deterrence of Aggression” and Fall of Assad Regime
On 8/12/2024, the Syrian opposition factions declared the liberation of Damascus and the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. They also announced the release of all detainees. As of this report, there is no exact count of the detainees released, but the Syrian Network for Human Rights revealed on 30/8/2024, that at least 157,634 individuals, including 5,274 children and 10,221 women, remain detained or disappeared since March 2011.
The Syrian Prisoners’ Association reported on 9/12/2024, that Sednayah prison was completely empty of detainees in all of its buildings, and that the last detainee was released on 8/12/2024, at 11 AM local time. This was confirmed by the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets) on 10/12/2024, stating that the search for any potential detainees in undiscovered underground cells had been concluded without finding any further hidden cells.
Scenes of detainees emerging from the prisons of the ousted Syrian regime dominated media outlets and social media platforms, with released prisoners showing painful physical and psychological conditions, recounting harrowing testimonies about the conditions of detention and the torture they endured.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported on August 30, 2024, that the death toll from torture in Syria between March 2011 and July 2024 had reached 15,393 individuals, with the majority, 15,102, killed by the forces of the ousted Syrian regime. Other deaths occurred at the hands of various factions, including the Syrian Democratic Forces, ISIS, opposition factions, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.