‘Until my last breath’: Searching for relatives in Syria’s ‘slaughterhouse’ | Syrian War News

Sednaya, Syria – For decades, the Sednaya prison was only talked about in hushed tones in Syria. Torture and death were common in this place that everyone called “the house of killing people”.

But on the night of December 7, all of that ended when Syrian opposition forces stormed the doors and freed the prisoners.

Suddenly, thousands of Syrians descended on the prison in the mountains north of Damascus, frantically searching for news of loved ones they believed had disappeared behind the prison walls.

Standing in front of the prison, Jumaa Jubbu, from al-Kafir in Idlib, said: “Freedom. [of Syria] it is an indescribable joy.

“But happiness is not complete because it exists [hundreds of thousands] about the missing prisoners, and we haven’t heard anything about them.”

False hope

The two Sednaya buildings may have held up to 20,000 prisoners, according to Amnesty International.

Most of the prisoners were released last week – Saturday evening and Sunday morning. But on Monday, thousands of people were still waiting for news.

The situation inside the prison was chaotic. There were rumors that there were hidden parts of the prison that they could not enter.

A former detainee told Al Jazeera that military police told him there were three underground floors with thousands of people being held there. This week people have been using water pipes in hopes of finding holes in walls or floors.

At one point, a loud noise was heard from the far wall of the prison and shouts spread through the crowd.

Someone was breaking in and there was hope that they had gained access to the rumored cells. People started running towards the noise, shouting “God is greater than all”.

But, after a few seconds, the shouting stopped and people turned away – a false hope. It was impossible to enter.

“We are waiting, we hope that God will guide us to find an underground prison, because most of the prisoners who were released earlier, say that the prison has three underground levels,” said Jubbu. “We only saw one floor.”

Jubbu said he was looking for 20 people from his village, including his cousins. All were taken in the early years of the war, between 2011 and 2013 and are believed to have ended up in the “slaughterhouse”.

But a few hours later, a statement was issued by the Association of Prisoners and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison which said that the last prisoner to be released was released at eleven o’clock the previous morning.

The white security unit in Syria continued the search but finally stopped operations on Tuesday after finding that there were no more prisoners.

‘Smells are indescribable’

Syrian opposition forces liberated Aleppo, Hama, and Homs on the way to Damascus. In each city, they opened the prison doors and freed tens of thousands of people.

But much is still missing.

On the road to Sednaya, people drove as far as they could before the rush of people forced them to park and continue on foot.

Young and old, men and women, some carrying children – all walked up the pavement to the infamous prison.

Under the now-defunct regime, Sednaya was a military prison where many were held on “terrorist” charges, basically, which meant they were held for any number of inexplicable reasons.

Many people Al Jazeera spoke to there said their relatives did nothing.

Some were not sure if their loved ones were there, they came because they heard from someone that their relative “might” be there. Even if they have checked other prisons and still haven’t found a clue.

Mohammad al-Bakour, 32, said his brother Abdullah was arrested in 2012 for peacefully protesting in Aleppo. He hasn’t seen her since.

At two o’clock in the morning – when al-Assad fled Damascus to Moscow – al-Bakour went straight to his hometown near Aleppo to Sednaya to look for his brother.

“His children are now grown up, they don’t remember him and they won’t recognize him,” al-Bakour said.

Inside, he searched the prison for any sign of Abdullah.

“The smell there is indescribable. He did not think about the suffering of the prisoners inside,” he said. “Many times they wished to die but they didn’t get it. Death was one of the prisoners’ dreams.”

Life in limbo

In Sednaya, many prisoners said they were tortured and raped. Others were killed so that the world would not know what happened to them.

The body of prominent activist Mazen al-Hamada was found in the mortuary of a military hospital showing signs of torture.

Another former prisoner, Youssef Abu Wadie, explained to Al Jazeera how the guards treated the prisoners: “They would knock on the door and shout, ‘Shut up, you dog!’ they did not allow us to speak. Food was scarce. They took us outside, beat us, broke us.

Sometimes two people would hold us down and beat us. They dragged us and took our medicine.”

Many prisoners told Amnesty International in 2016 that they were not allowed any contact with outsiders or sending anything to family members.

In many cases, prisoners’ families were falsely told that the prisoner had died, according to Amnesty’s report. Most of the prisoners in the report witnessed at least one death during their time at Sednaya.

Without confirmed evidence of the life or death of their relatives and friends, many Syrians continue to live in limbo. Almost all said that without official confirmation, they will continue to search.

One of those people is 50-year-old Lamis Salama. He was in Sednaya on Monday seeking news of his son, who was imprisoned seven years earlier and will now be 33 years old; and his brother, who was arrested 12 years ago.

“My feelings are fear, fear. I want to see my son, I want to know if he is alive or dead,” said Salama. “This is the pain in my heart. If he’s dead, I can stop looking and start trying to accept that, but if he’s alive, I’ll keep looking for him until my last breath, to find out where he is.”

Additional reporting by Justin Salhani