A man gestures in Saadallah al-Jabiri Square as people celebrate, after Syria’s army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, following a rapid rebel offensive that took the world by surprise, in Aleppo, Syria, December 8, 2024 [Karam al-Masri/Reuters]
AL JAZEERA | Published December 10, 2024
Idlib, Syria – “My name was number 1100,” Hala said, still fearful of being identified by her real name.
Hala is one of the thousands who have been freed from the prisons of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, after it spectacularly collapsed amid a rebel offensive in less than two weeks.
She told Al Jazeera that she had been taken from a checkpoint in Hama in 2019, accused of “terrorism” – a charge often thrown at anyone suspected of opposing the government. She was taken to Aleppo, where she has spent the time since in various prisons.
That is until Syrian opposition forces arrived at Aleppo’s Central Prison on November 29, freeing her and countless others.
“We couldn’t believe it was real and we would see the light,” she said of the opening of the prison by rebel forces led by Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) in late November.
“The joy was immense; we ululated and cheered, wishing we could hug and kiss them,” Hala said of her liberators. “The joy was even greater when I reached my family. It was as if I was born again.”
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SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
RELATED: Reports of people trapped underground at notorious Syrian prison
BBC NEWS | Published December 10, 2024
The Syrian civil defence group known as the White Helmets says it is investigating reports from survivors of the country’s notorious Saydnaya prison that people are being detained in hidden underground cells.
Writing on X, the group says it has deployed five “specialised emergency teams” to the prison, who are being helped by a guide familiar with the prison’s layout.
Saydnaya is one of the prisons to have been liberated as rebels took control of the country.
Authorities in Damascus province reported that efforts were continuing to free prisoners, some of whom were “almost choking to death” from lack of ventilation.
The Damascus Countryside Governorate has appealed on social media to former soldiers and prison workers in Bashar al-Assad’s regime to provide the rebel forces with the codes to electronic underground doors.
They say they have been unable to open them in order to free “more than 100,000 detainees who can be seen on CCTV monitors”.
Video has been circulating online and through news outlets including Al Jazeera of what appears to be efforts to access lower parts of the prison.
In it, a man can be seen using a type of post to knock out a lower wall, revealing a dark space behind.
Other footage has shown prisoners being freed – including a small child being held with his mother. He is shown in a video of women being released that was posted by the Turkey-based Association of Detainees and The Missing in Saydnaya Prison (ADMSP).
“He [Assad] has fallen. Don’t be scared,” a voice on the video says, apparently trying to reassure the women that they were now safe.
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SOURCE: www.bbc.com
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