Syrian woman haunts Assad's notorious prison for clues of relatives' fate

By Jehad Shalbak

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - When she heard the stunning news that rebels had brought an end to Syria's decades-old regime, Hayat al-Turki headed for a prison that had become known as a slaughterhouse, praying that her brother and five more relatives held there were still alive.

But after four days of wandering around the notorious Sednaya complex, she is still desperate for any clues about their fate in a prison that human rights groups say is known for widespread torture and executions.

"I sleep here of course. I haven't been home at all," she said. She had been hopeful of finding her brother, uncle or a cousin, she said, but they, like the relatives of dozens of other Syrians searching the prison, seemed to have disappeared.

The 27-year-old found a document dated October 1, 2024, listing more than 7,000 prisoners of various categories.

"Where are they? Don't they have to be in this prison?" she said, adding that a much smaller number had walked free.

Thousands of prisoners spilled out of President Bashar al-Assad's merciless detention system after he was toppled on Sunday during a lightning advance by rebels that overturned five decades of his family's rule. Many detainees were met by tearful relatives who thought they had been executed years ago.

In Sednaya, a hanging noose reminded visitors of the dark days their relatives had spent there.

"I search the whole prison ... I go into a cell for less than five minutes, and I suffocate," Turki said before going into another cell to search through belongings.

"Are these for my brother for example? Do I smell him in them? Or these? Or is this his blanket?" she said, holding up a picture of her sibling -- lost for 14 years.

Rights groups have reported mass executions in Syria's prisons, and the United States said in 2017 it had identified a new crematorium at Sednaya for hanged prisoners. Torture was widely documented.

The main commander of the rebels who toppled Assad said on Wednesday that anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees during Assad's rule would be hunted down and pardons were out of the question.

"We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice," Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in a statement published on the Syrian state TV's Telegram channel.

That provided little comfort to Turki, whose hopes of finding her brother were fading.

"I don't know what he looks like, because I am seeing the photos of prisoners getting out, they are like skeletons," she said.

"We are sure that people were here. Who are all these clothes and blankets for?"

(Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Philippa Fletcher)