During the grim thirteen year civil war human rights groups estimate that more than a million Syrians from all walks of life were held, including thousands of women and children sure all were kept in Assad’s notorious and a prison north of Damascus the doors to those prisons are now open or here in a moment from a former prisoner about the terrible conditions there but earlier or Thompson Bird reports jubilant it seems these flared up around Syria. Over the weekend the violent dictatorship of Bhatia al Assad fell at the hands of rebel fighters at the speed of lightning, it did not light up in the midst of the celebrations now the worst the Assad regime’s prisons in Syria are some of the harshest prisons in the world this sit new referred to as a human slaughterhouse. They do not have a single lock by rights groups video shared by and I am government organization.
Monitor prison systematically torture said night became a symbol of Assad’s brutal rule today these prisons have been revealed the heartbreaking discovery is from Florida. Reluctant scared man tells this woman he met in underground prison that he has a child with him. This man is reportedly on the run from Sydney. Holds up ten fingers, one for every year he was in prison in this video, rebels open fire and lock the prison service doors, former detainees are seen hugging and cheering in the corridor. Thousands of people are believed to have been detained, tortured and killed at the cinema north of Damascus over the decades. The prison has two main facilities, this is the main prison.
The so-called red building where opponents of Assad’s dictatorship were held. Like Syrian TV reports of a mass grave being found on the prison grounds, but today the doors have opened and the prisoners are free. It’s time for the rebels to control the chaos of the crowds gathering at the prison hoping to find a loved one, at least one Thompson coverage for us now here is someone who knew firsthand about said new prison and its inhumane conditions. You know you were only fifteen years old when you were first captured by Assad’s forces, how did you end up in prison, how did I end up in prison. In Syria for no reason, that’s the interesting question you don’t have to do anything to be a political prisoner, they just take you off the street, so they can return home.
The guards at the checkpoint don’t like their soldiers, they like your hair, they can beat you and put you in prison, because they knew they had immunity, they could be prosecuted for their crimes. So I was taken from my home with my cousin and taken to prison and then we were forced to give false statements under torture, a death sentence because of those false statements so I was smuggled in and tell us about the conditions, as you can see. They released videos and photos for no reason, it’s a slaughterhouse, it’s a dark place. Here you rarely dream of getting free from that place or I would say never dream of getting out of there.
You have many floors and many guards who have different expertise in how they want to torture you. What is the best way for them to enjoy? Torturing you makes us feel that moment of freedom that you felt and what happened my moment of freedom or their moment of freedom for hundreds of thousands of Syrian prisoners the other day ah for hundreds of thousands and for you personally I’ll start with one hundred thousand. Was watching the news in the apartment. One left and I was crying during the night because I was watching videos of people in other cities and bread being made from prison so excited for every Syrian defeat the feeling of freedom that I once felt. That was unbelievable I was so that three that the regime will kill a lot of prisoners when the opposition takes over new areas but fortunately I think that hasn’t happened much.