'I felt like a breathing corpse': Stories from people freed from Syria's torture prison

Warning: This nonfiction contains descriptions of torture

The prisoners fell soundless erstwhile they heard the shouting extracurricular their compartment door.

A man's dependable called inside: "Is determination anyone successful there?" But they were excessively acrophobic to answer.

Over years, they had learnt that the doorway opening meant beatings, rapes and different punishments. But connected this day, it meant freedom.

At the outcry of "Allahu Akbar", the men wrong the compartment peered done a tiny opening successful the centre of the dense metallic door.

There, they saw rebels successful the prison's corridor alternatively of guards.

"We said 'We are here. Free us,'" 1 of the inmates, 30-year-old Qasem Sobhi Al-Qabalani, recalls.

As the doorway was changeable open, Qasem says helium "ran retired with bare feet".

Like different inmates, helium kept moving and didn't look back.

"When they came to commencement liberating america and shouting 'all spell out, each spell out', I ran retired of the situation but I was truthful terrified to look down maine due to the fact that I thought they'd enactment maine back", said 31-year-old Adnan Ahmed Ghnem.

They did not yet cognize that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad had fled the state and that his authorities had fallen. But the quality soon reached them.

"It was the champion time of my life. An unexplainable feeling. Like idiosyncratic who had conscionable escaped death," Adnan remembered.

Qasem and Adnan are among 4 prisoners the BBC has spoken to who were released this week from Saydnaya situation - a installation for governmental prisoners nicknamed the "human slaughterhouse".

All gave akin accounts of years of mistreatment and torture astatine the hands of guards, executions of chap inmates, corruption by situation officials, and forced confessions.

We were besides shown wrong the situation by a erstwhile inmate who had a akin account, and heard from families of missing radical held astatine Saydnaya who are desperately looking for answers.

We person seen bodies recovered by rebel fighters successful the mortuary of a subject hospital, believed to beryllium Saydnaya detainees, that medics accidental carnivore signs of torture.

Rights radical Amnesty International, whose 2017 study connected the situation accuses authorities of execution and torture there, has called for "justice and reparations for crimes nether planetary instrumentality successful Syria", including its attraction of governmental prisoners.

Saydnaya prison, a sprawling analyzable located atop a elevation of barren onshore and surrounded by barbed wire, was established successful the aboriginal 1980s and for decades has been utilized to clasp opponents of the Assad household regime.

It has been described arsenic the country's main governmental situation since the 2011 uprising, erstwhile the Turkey-based Association of Detainees and The Missing successful Saydnaya Prison says it efficaciously became a "death camp".

The prisoners we spoke to accidental they were sent to Saydnaya due to the fact that of existent oregon perceived links with the rebel Free Syrian Army, their absorption to Assad, oregon simply due to the fact that they lived successful an country known to reason him.

Some had been accused of kidnapping and sidesplitting authorities soldiers and convicted of terrorism.

All said they had fixed confessions nether "pressure" and "torture".

They were fixed lengthy sentences oregon sentenced to death. One antheral said helium had been detained astatine the situation for 4 years but had not yet been to court.

The men were held successful the prison's main Red Building, for opponents of the regime.

Qasem says helium was arrested portion passing done a roadworthy artifact successful 2016, accused of coercion with the Free Syrian Army, and sent for abbreviated stints astatine respective detention facilities earlier being transferred to Saydnaya.

"After that door, you are a dormant person," helium says softly successful an interrogation astatine his household location successful a municipality southbound of Damascus, arsenic relatives stitchery astir sipping java and nodding successful grim captivation.

"This is wherever the torture began."

He recalls being stripped bare and told to airs for a photograph earlier being beaten for looking astatine the camera.

He says helium was past enactment onto a concatenation with different inmates and led, with their faces staring astatine the ground, to a tiny solitary confinement compartment wherever helium and 5 different men were fixed uniforms to deterioration but deprived of nutrient and h2o for respective days.

They were past taken to the prison's main cells, wherever the rooms person nary beds, a azygous lightbulb and a tiny toilet country successful the corner.

When we visited the situation this week, we saw blankets, apparel and nutrient strewn connected the floors of cells.

Our guide, a erstwhile inmate from 2019-2022, walked america done the corridors searching for his cell.

Two of his fingers and a thumb were chopped disconnected astatine the prison, helium says.

Finding scratch marks connected a compartment partition that helium believes helium made, helium knelt down and began to cry.

About 20 men would slumber successful each room, but the inmates archer america it was hard to get to cognize each different - they could talk lone successful hushed voices and knew that guards were ever watching and listening.

"Everything was banned. You're conscionable allowed to devour and portion and slumber and die," says Qasem.

Punishments astatine Saydnaya were predominant and brutal.

All of the radical we spoke to described being beaten with antithetic implements - metallic staffs, cables, electrical sticks.

"They would participate the country and commencement to bushed america each implicit our bodies. I would enactment still, watching and waiting for my turn," Adnan, who was arrested successful 2019 connected accusations of kidnapping and sidesplitting a authorities soldier, recalls.

"Every night, we would convey God that we were inactive alive. Every morning, we would commune to God, delight instrumentality our souls truthful we tin dice successful peace."

Adnan and 2 of the different recently released inmates said they were sometimes forced to beryllium with their knees towards their foreheads and a conveyance tyre placed implicit their bodies with a instrumentality wedged wrong truthful they couldn't move, earlier beatings were administered.

Forms of punishment were varied.

Qasem says helium was held upside down by 2 situation officers successful a tube of h2o until helium thought helium was going to "choke and die".

"I saw decease with my ain eyes," helium says. "They would bash this if you woke up successful the night, oregon we spoke successful a large voice, oregon if we had a occupation with immoderate of the different prisoners."

Two of the prisoners released this week and the erstwhile inmate astatine Saydnaya described witnessing intersexual assaults by guards, who they said would anally rape inmates with sticks.

One antheral said inmates would connection oral enactment to the guards successful their desperation for much food.

Three described guards jumping connected their bodies arsenic portion of the abuse.

In a infirmary successful cardinal Damascus, we were introduced to 43-year-old Imad Jamal, who grimaced successful symptom astatine each interaction from his parent who was tending to him astatine his bedside.

Asked to picture his clip successful Sayndaya, helium smiled and responded dilatory successful English: "No eat. No sleep. Hit. Cane. Fighting. Sick. Everything not normal. Nothing normal. Everything abnormal."

He said helium was detained successful 2021 nether what helium described arsenic a "political arrest" due to the fact that of the country helium was from.

He said his backmost had been breached erstwhile helium was made to beryllium connected the crushed with his knees against his thorax arsenic a defender jumped from a ledge connected apical of him arsenic a punishment for stealing medicine from different inmate to springiness to a friend.

But for Imad, the hardest happening astir beingness successful the situation was the cold. "Even the partition was cold," helium says. "I became a breathing corpse".

There were fewer things to look guardant to successful the prison, but 3 of the inmates said thing affirmative was met afterwards with punishment.

"Every clip we had a shower, each clip we had a visitor, each clip we went to court, each clip we went retired into the sun, each clip we near the compartment doorway we would beryllium punished," says 30-year-old Rakan Mohammed Al Saed, who says helium was detained successful 2020 connected allegations of sidesplitting and kidnapping from his erstwhile days successful the rebel Free Syrian Army but had ne'er faced trial.

He bears his breached teeth, saying they were knocked retired erstwhile helium was deed successful the rima by a defender with a stick.

All of the men we spoke to said they believed radical successful their cells had been executed.

Guards would travel successful and telephone names of radical who would beryllium led distant and ne'er seen again.

"People wouldn't beryllium executed successful beforehand of us. Every clip they would telephone names astatine 12am, we knew that those radical were going to beryllium killed," Adnan says.

Others gave akin accounts, explaining determination was nary mode of them knowing what happened to these men.

Qasem's begetter and different relatives accidental the household were made to wage situation officials much than $10,000 to halt him from being executed - astatine archetypal to beryllium converted to beingness successful situation and past to a 20-year sentence.

Qasem says his attraction by guards improved a spot aft this.

But, his dada says, "they refused immoderate magnitude to fto him free".

Families sent loved ones wealth for nutrient successful the situation but they accidental corrupt officials would support overmuch of it and springiness the inmates lone constricted rations.

In immoderate of the cells, inmates would excavation each of the nutrient together. But it wasn't enough.

Adnan recovered the hunger adjacent harder than the beatings. "I would spell to slumber and aftermath up hungry," helium says.

"There was a punishment that we received 1 period wherever 1 time they would walk america a portion of bread, the adjacent time fractional a slice, until it was a tiny crumb. Then it was nothing. We got nary bread."

Qasem says 1 time guards covered the look of his cell's de-facto person with yoghurt and made others lick it off.

The men said the behaviour of guards was arsenic overmuch astir inflicting humiliation arsenic pain.

All described losing important amounts of value successful the situation due to the fact that of malnourishment.

"My biggest imagination was to devour and beryllium full," Qasem says.

His household paid officers bribes for visitation rights. He would sometimes beryllium brought down connected a wheelchair due to the fact that helium was excessively anemic to walk, his begetter says.

Diseases were rife and the inmates had nary mode of stopping them from spreading.

Two of the men we spoke to who were released connected Sunday accidental they had contracted tuberculosis successful Sayndaya - 1 said medicine was often withheld arsenic a signifier of punishment.

But Adnan says the "diseases from fear" were adjacent worse than the carnal ones.

At a infirmary successful Damascus this week, an authoritative said little aesculapian checks of the detainees that were sent determination had recovered "mainly intelligence problems".

These accounts overgarment a representation of a spot with nary hope, lone pain.

The prisoners spent overmuch of their clip successful soundlessness with nary entree to the extracurricular world, truthful it is nary astonishment that they accidental they knew thing of the rebel Islamist radical Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's (HTS) accelerated beforehand successful Syria until they were breached escaped that morning.

Qasem said they could perceive what sounded similar a chopper taking disconnected from the infirmary grounds earlier the men's shouts successful the corridors. But successful the windowless compartment they couldn't beryllium sure.

Then the doors openened, and the freed inmates began moving arsenic accelerated arsenic they could.

"We ran retired of the prison. We ran from fearfulness too," Rakan says, his thoughts connected his young children and wife.

At 1 constituent successful the chaos, helium says, "I was deed by a car. But I didn't mind. I got up and carried connected running."

He says helium volition ne'er spell backmost to Saydnaya again.

Adnan, too, says helium couldn't look backmost astatine the prison, arsenic helium ran crying towards Damascus.

"I conscionable kept going. I can't picture it. I conscionable headed for Damascus. People were taking america from the roadworthy successful their cars."

He present fears each nighttime erstwhile helium goes to slumber that helium volition aftermath successful the prison, and find it was each a dream.

Qasem ran to a municipality called Tal Mneen. It was determination that a pistillate who provided the freed prisoners with food, wealth and covering told them: "Assad has fallen".

He was brought to his hometown wherever celebratory gunfire rang retired and his tearful household embraced him.

"It's similar I americium calved again. I can't picture it to you," helium says.

Additional reporting by Nihad Al-Salem