Accounts from Survivors of Syria’s Notorious Saydnaya Prison: “I felt like a breathing corpse”

The liberation of prisoners from Syria’s most infamous prison by rebel forces marked a pivotal event in the collapse of the Syrian regime. One week later, four individuals shared their experiences with the BBC, detailing both the joy of their freedom and the horrific years they endured beforehand. Warning: This article includes descriptions of torture. The inmates became silent upon hearing shouts beyond their cell door. A male voice inquired, “Is there anyone in there?” However, fear prevented them from responding. Over many years, they had learned that an opening door signified beatings, rapes, and other forms of punishment. Yet, on this particular day, it signaled their liberation. Following the cry of “Allahu Akbar,” the men within the cell looked through a small aperture in the middle of the substantial metal door. They observed rebels in the prison corridor, rather than guards. “We said ‘We are here. Free us,'” recounted Qasem Sobhi Al-Qabalani, a 30-year-old inmate. When the door was forced open, Qasem stated he “ran out with bare feet.” Similar to other prisoners, he continued running without looking back. “When they came to start liberating us and shouting ‘all go out, all go out’, I ran out of the prison but I was so terrified to look behind me because I thought they’d put me back,” stated Adnan Ahmed Ghnem, 31. They were initially unaware that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had fled the nation and that his administration had collapsed. Nevertheless, this information quickly reached them. “It was the best day of my life. An unexplainable feeling. Like someone who had just escaped death,” Adnan recalled. Qasem and Adnan are two of four prisoners interviewed by the BBC this week, all of whom were freed from Saydnaya prison, a detention center for political prisoners known as the “human slaughterhouse.” Each individual provided comparable testimonies detailing years of abuse and torture inflicted by guards, the execution of other prisoners, corruption among prison staff, and confessions extracted under duress. A former inmate, whose account corroborated these stories, also guided us inside the prison. Additionally, we heard from families of individuals missing and held at Saydnaya, who are urgently seeking information. We observed bodies discovered by rebel combatants in the mortuary of a military hospital, presumed to be Saydnaya detainees, which medical personnel stated showed evidence of torture. The human rights organization Amnesty International, which in its 2017 report on the prison accused authorities of murder and torture, has demanded “justice and reparations for crimes under international law in Syria,” encompassing the treatment of its political prisoners. Saydnaya prison, an extensive facility situated on a barren hilltop and enclosed by barbed wire, was founded in the early 1980s and has served for decades to incarcerate opponents of the Assad family regime. Since the 2011 uprising, it has been characterized as the nation’s primary political prison, a period during which the Turkey-based Association of Detainees and The Missing in Saydnaya Prison states it essentially transformed into a “death camp.” The inmates interviewed indicated they were sent to Saydnaya due to actual or perceived connections with the rebel Free Syrian Army, their dissent against Assad, or merely for residing in an area known for its opposition to him. Some faced accusations of abducting and killing regime soldiers and were convicted of terrorism. All reported having made confessions under “pressure” and “torture.” They received extended sentences or death sentences. One individual mentioned being held at the prison for four years without having appeared in court. These men were confined in the prison’s primary Red Building, designated for regime opponents. Qasem stated he was apprehended at a roadblock in 2016, charged with terrorism alongside the Free Syrian Army, and held briefly in various detention centers before his transfer to Saydnaya. “After that door, you are a dead person,” he remarked quietly during an interview at his family residence in a town south of Damascus, surrounded by relatives sipping coffee and nodding with somber attention. “This is where the torture began.” He recounted being stripped nude and instructed to pose for a photograph, then beaten for glancing at the camera. He stated he was subsequently chained with other inmates and led, with their faces directed downwards, to a minuscule solitary confinement cell where he and five other men were confined, given uniforms, but denied food and water for multiple days. Following this, they were moved to the prison’s primary cells, which featured no beds, only one lightbulb, and a small lavatory section in a corner. During our visit to the prison this week, we observed blankets, clothing, and food scattered across the cell floors. Our guide, a former prisoner incarcerated from 2019 to 2022, led us through the corridors as he sought his former cell. He stated that two of his fingers and a thumb were severed at the prison. Upon discovering scratch marks on a cell wall that he believed he had made, he knelt and started to weep. Approximately 20 men would sleep in each room, but the prisoners informed us that forming acquaintances was challenging; they could only converse in subdued tones, aware that guards were constantly observing and listening. “Everything was banned. You’re just allowed to eat and drink and sleep and die,” Qasem stated. Sanctions at Saydnaya were common and severe. Every individual we interviewed recounted being beaten with various instruments—metal staffs, cables, and electric sticks. “They would enter the room and start to beat us all over our bodies. I would stay still, watching and waiting for my turn,” remembered Adnan, who was arrested in 2019 on charges of kidnapping and killing a regime soldier. “Every night, we would thank God that we were still alive. Every morning, we would pray to God, please take our souls so we can die in peace.” Adnan and two other recently freed inmates reported