Social media accounts recently published a video clip showing a mannequin in the shape of a person inside a cell, claiming that it is from inside Sednaya prison in Damascus. The clip was accompanied by the following text: “Scenes that no human being can imagine from inside Sednaya prison.”
Kashif verified the video via “Google Images” tool and found that it was incorrectly linked to detainees in Syria. The clip is from the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, not from Syria.
On 15/3/2017, YouTube channel Ford Falcon 87 posted a video from the Vietnam War Remnants Museum with the following description: “Tiger Cage at Con Dao Prison, Saigon, Vietnam.” Kashif’s team noticed that the period from 3:12 to 3:26 of the YouTube video shows the same room that appears in the circulated video.
On 8/1/2018, alamy published a photo of the statue that appears in the circulated clip, accompanied by the following text: “A prisoner in the War Remnants Museum. In Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.”
Gettyimages published on 17/8/2017 a photo of the model that appears in the video accompanied by the following text: “A reconstruction of a cell known as the Tiger Cage at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Tiger Cages were special cells for holding political prisoners, and during the hot season between five and fourteen people were held in a single cell. It stated that it was photographed by Anthony Devlin.
Gettyimages also published a photo of another prisoner statue on 5/10/2016, stating that it was “A statue of a prisoner in a tiger cage, at the War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.”
The War Remnants Museum was established on 4/9/1975 in Vietnam and is a member of the Vietnam Museum System, World Peace Museums and the International Council of Museums. The museum specializes in researching, collecting, preserving and displaying evidence of crimes and the consequences of the wars of invasion in Vietnam, with the aim of promoting awareness of the importance of peace and solidarity among peoples.
The opposition factions announced on Wednesday 27/11/2024 the start of a military operation called “Deterrence of Aggression.” On Sunday 8/12/2024, they announced in a statement broadcasted on state television the liberation of Damascus and the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. The opposition added that all detainees had been released.
Many videos have spread on social media documenting the release of detainees from Sednaya prison. On 8/12/2024, Al Jazeera reported, quoting its correspondent, that the Syrian opposition “succeeded in taking control of Sednaya prison and releasing thousands of detainees from the upper floors, but the three lower floors, known as the Red Prison, the White Prison, and the Yellow Prison, are still underground and isolated from the outside, while the detainees there face tragic conditions.”
| Sources of Claim | Sources of Verification |
| Khaled Masto lli_90m Moshe Free Syria Activist Hamza Al-Masry Muzahim By Amr Al-Aqili | Ford Falcon 87 alamy gettyimages (1) gettyimages (2) free baotangchungtichchientranh Middle East Al Jazeera |