During a lightning offensive to capture Syria, opposition fighters have freed thousands of people from a network of terrifying prisons that characterised the repressive al-Assad regime that they eventually ousted.
Coming from the north, they took Aleppo first, then Hama, Homs and Damascus.
Along the way, they busted open central prisons and reassured those stumbling out – frail and confused – that they were safe.
They told them the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was on the verge of – or had already – fallen, and showed the world the conditions that untold thousands of people had been held in for ages.
The work has continued, as fighters and relief workers scramble to find prisoners left behind, open secret cells, and even find the locations of secret facilities.
Their efforts offer faint hope to countless Syrian families whose loved ones “disappeared” into a prison system many describe as dungeons or death camps.
Here’s all you need to know about Syria’s prisons under al-Assad’s rule:
How many prisons were there in Syria?
More than 100 detention facilities – according to a United Nations report – and an unknown number of secret facilities.
Two of the most notorious prisons were Tadmor and Sednaya.
They were in the desert of the ancient city of Palmyra and just outside Damascus, respectively.
What were conditions like in Syria’s prisons?
Horrific.
In 2014, a regime defector, who went by the name “Caesar”, fled Syria with tens of thousands of images showing the mutilated bodies of detainees who were killed or tortured in Syrian prisons.
He passed on about 53,276 files to Syrian and international rights groups and activists.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) extrapolated that the photographs proved at least 6,786 people had died in the government’s custody.
Amnesty International further referred to Sadnaya Prison as a “slaughterhouse” in 2017 after finding that thousands of people had been executed there.
They were killed in mass hangings or tortured to death, including by being deprived of food, water and medicine.
Syrian authorities would then dump them in mass graves.
Amnesty said the killings amount to crimes against humanity.
How many people languished in prison?
About 157,634 Syrians were arrested between March 2011 and August 2024.
Of this number, 5,274 were children and 10,221 women.
Thousands more were abducted by Syria’s feared security services during the reign of Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, who came to power in 1971.
His son assumed control of the country after Hafez died in 2000.
Are there still Syrians in prison?
There are countless people still trapped in underground dungeons, according to relief groups.
Authorities have called on former soldiers and prison guards to provide opposition forces with the passwords to unlock underground electronic doors, claiming that thousands of detainees were still trapped in these dungeons, according to CCTV images.
Syria’s White Helmets have also offered a monetary reward to anyone coming forward with information that helps uncover a secret facility.
مكافأة مالية لمن يقدم معلومات تساعد في العثور على أماكن السجون ومراكز الاعتقال السرية التي يوجد فيها معتقلون.
يعلن الدفاع المدني السوري (الخوذ البيضاء) عن تخصيص مكافأة مالية بمبلغ 3 آلاف دولار أمريكي لكل من يدلي بمعلومات مباشرة تؤدي إلى تحديد أماكن سجون سرية في سوريا يوجد فيها… pic.twitter.com/CIfxxSNisP— الدفاع المدني السوري (@SyriaCivilDefe) December 9, 2024
Translation: A financial reward for anyone who provides information that helps find the locations of secret prisons and detention centres where detainees are being held. The Syria Civil Defence (White Helmets) announces a financial reward of $3,000 to anyone who provides direct information leading to the identification of secret prisons in Syria where detainees are being held.
It’s unclear who exactly is still behind bars, yet rebels have so far released thousands of women, as well as elderly and middle-aged men – some of whom spent the majority of their lives in prison.
Rebels also discovered small children in the regime’s custody.
How were people tortured?
In unimaginable ways.
The Syrian regime used several techniques to punish real and perceived opponents. They would whip detainees, deprive them of sleep and electrocute them.
Women and men were routinely stripped naked, blindfolded and even raped.
On top of that, three particular torture methods became notorious in Syria for literally snapping a detainee’s back.
The first was known as the “German chair” and saw prison guards sit detainees on a chair and bend them backwards until their spines snapped.
A second was called the “flying carpet,” whereby victims were placed on a foldable wooden board.
Guards would then elevate the two sides of the board, bringing the victim’s knees and chest together, until the position caused immense back pain.
Finally, prison guards often tied detainees to a ladder and then would push the ladder over and watch the victim fall on their back – again and again.
Why did the regime arrest and torture so many Syrians?
Short answer: To terrorise and scare them into submission.
Prior to the 2011 Syrian uprising, people in the country used to say “the walls have ears” to refer to the regime’s sprawling intelligence surveillance system and network of spies, the dreaded Mukhabarat.
Anyone who made a critical comment about the regime risked disappearing into one of its dungeons.
