Dozens of bodies of tortured prisoners were found in the cells of Sednaya
Nearly 40 dead bodies with signs of brutal torture were found in the morgue of the Harasta military hospital on the outskirts of Damascus after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the rebels who seized power have claimed.
The bodies in various stages of decomposition were discovered after an anonymous tip. It is believed that the bodies of prisoners who were tortured in the notorious Syrian prisons were transferred to the hospital.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that nearly 60.000 people have been tortured and killed in regime prisons. Since Assad ordered a brutal crackdown on uprisings during the 2011 Arab Spring, more than 100.000 people have disappeared in Syria.
– Harasta Hospital served as the main center where the bodies of the murdered prisoners were transferred. The bodies from the notorious Sednaya prison were delivered there or to the Tishrin hospital, and then they were buried in mass graves - Diab Seria, from the Association of Detained and Missing Persons in Sednaya (ADMSP), told AFP.
The civil protection group known as the "white helmets" announced yesterday that neither alive prisoners nor bodies were found in the cellars and underground labyrinths of Sednaya, also known as the "human slaughterhouse". Specialized teams supported by people with a map of the premises and trained dogs participated in the investigation.
All cells, buildings, cellars and yards were searched, even the ventilation and sewage systems, while hundreds of people gathered in front of the prison, waiting for information about missing persons.
In a document dated October 28, it was stated that there are 4.300 prisoners in Sednaya, of which 2.187 were detained in the "white building", and another 1.483 detained for more serious crimes were in the "red building".
ADMSP claims that between 2011 and 2018 in Sednaya alone, a total of 30.000 people were executed, killed by torture or died of injuries, disease and starvation. In the period from 2018 to 2021, another 500 people were executed. The bodies were kept in "salt halls", and when a few hundred were collected, they were transferred to the hospitals.
