Desperate relatives camped out at Syria’s most notorious “slaughterhouse” prison north of Damascus and scoured the halls of overcrowded hospitals and morgues looking for Syria’s missing.
Armed with photographs, ID cards and screenshots of old photos, family members of those imprisoned in the regime’s notorious prisons and justice system flocked to anyone they thought might reveal the whereabouts of their loved ones.
More than half a century of brutal rule by the Assad regime, culminating in a thirteen-year civil war characterized by mass arrests, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and executions, left tens of thousands missing.
Many end up in various harsh and isolated prisons in Syria, such as Saidnaya prison, nicknamed the “death camp.” Damascus, 30 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, is described by Amnesty International as the final destination for peaceful protesters and defectors.
Families across Syria used their last ounces of fuel to drive to the notorious prison in search of loved ones as footage of rebels storming the prison and freeing prisoners spread across the country on Sunday.
With nowhere to go, many sleep on mattresses outside the horrific complex, which is littered with sewage and the prisoners’ few belongings. Some dug with their hands or tried to punch through the walls, chasing rumors of underground prisons and secret cells.
Families of those imprisoned in the regime’s notorious prisons and justice system carry photos and ID cards to search for their loved ones (AP)
“Please, I’m trying to find my son Enad, who disappeared 12 years ago,” one woman sobbed, grabbing my arm. Another man, Zakaria, a former detainee, shouted: “Seven people from my family are missing. Their photos are recorded in prison. They must be here.”
A man standing in the back, holding a stack of prison documents with his name on it, said he could not find his brother-in-law, who disappeared in 2011 after attending a protest in the southern province of Daraa. Find his brother-in-law. He went out to buy gas cans and never came back.
The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said at least 150,000 people are believed to be missing as a result of the conflict in Syria and their families have been reunited after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime over the weekend.
The global intergovernmental organization has collected data on more than 76,200 relatives of missing persons who reported 28,200 cases and received reports of 66 mass graves.
The organization said it was time for the world to coordinate genetic and database technology to find those missing in Syria.
“In order to achieve justice in Syria, immediate steps must be taken to protect evidence in the current events,” they added, pleading that sites of executions and other human rights violations be treated as crime scenes. “They must be sealed and, where appropriate, subject to review to protect the truth and bring those responsible to justice.”
The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) says at least 150,000 people are believed to be missing as a result of the conflict in Syria (AP)
Unfortunately, this was not the case in Saidnaya, where angry and desperate families were surrounded by smashed CCTV cameras, monitor screens and broken computer mainframes and hard drives.
“They took away 40 working screens and storage drives just to cover up Bashar al-Assad and his criminals,” Wali Subhi Nassar of Aleppo said through tears of frustration.
“About a month ago, a soldier told me that my brother was in Saidnaya. Now, that soldier has disappeared and all contact with him has been completely severed.
“We will continue to hunt these criminals until the end. I have no hatred for them and I have never carried a weapon in my life, but now I am going after them,” he said as another man tried to comfort him.
Families who abandoned the prison flocked to nearby hospitals such as Al-Mouwasat in search of clues about their missing relatives. Hearing reports of prisoners being tortured so severely that they forgot their names and lost their minds, they ran between rooms for the injured, begging nurses and medical staff for news of anyone released from prison. They poured out of a fourth-floor room where two men were being treated for gunshot wounds and torture after being released from prisons in Homs and Damascus, only to find that their families had claimed them.
Alaa, a mother of six, is one of the lucky few: She is caring for her 38-year-old husband, Mohammed, one of two men rescued from Saidnaya just Sunday, lying unconscious next to her.
Angry and desperate families were surrounded by shattered CCTV cameras in Saidnaya, where Assad officials smashed everything as they fled (AP)
The family initially fled to Lebanon but returned to Syria in 2014 without money, food or schooling for their children. Her husband was immediately drafted into Assad’s army but tried to escape multiple times. He was eventually transferred to Saidnaya eight months ago.
There, Alaa said, he was severely tortured and eventually shot in the shoulder as the regime retreated.
“They never let me see my husband. Every time I asked to see him, they tortured me,” she said through tears. “When I heard that he was released, I cried with my children. My children cried and rejoiced that their father was released.
