They came as soon as Damascus fell. Men, women, children, in cars, on foot, they all gathered on Monday evening in front of the sinister Saydnaya prison near Damascus, awaiting news of their loved ones, victims of the fallen regime of Bashar al-Assad.
“I’m waiting in the hope that one of my loved ones will be found,” said Youssef Matar, 25, sitting on a rock.
He thinks ten members of his family are being held in this huge T-shaped prison.
“All were arrested by the” Syrian “security for no reason, just because we are from the town of Daraya”, in the vicinity of Damascus, one of the first localities to rise up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, he explains.
“I have been here since yesterday (Sunday),” adds the young man. “I’m going to stay until I know if they’re dead or alive.”
Thousands gathered around the prison and the line of cars stretched for more than seven kilometers. Some walked for hours to reach the hill on which the infamous building is built, scaling the sand barricades surrounding it.
On Monday evening, in the cold wind that picked up, families lit campfires and sat in a circle outside the prison to keep warm.
Since the start of the uprising in 2011, which degenerated into civil war, more than 100,000 people have died in Syrian prisons, notably under torture, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) estimated in 2022.
At the same time, the OSDH reported that around 30,000 people had been detained in Saydnaya, where detainees were subjected to the worst torture, of whom only 6,000 had been released.
– “Fear is over” –
As soon as they entered Damascus on Sunday, the Syrian rebels announced that they had taken control of the prison and freed the inmates of this penitentiary establishment, a symbol of the worst abuses of Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Images on social networks showed dozens of men, emaciated faces, some carried by comrades because they were too weak to move forward alone, leaving the prison.
But families remain convinced that many are still in underground dungeons.
Some rummage through documents scattered on the floor looking for a name. Hundreds attempt to enter the prison through its narrow doors.
“I’m looking for my brother, who has been missing since 2013. We looked for him everywhere, we think he is here, in Saydnaya,” says Oum Walid, 52, who refuses to give his last name.
“Since Bashar has left, I am optimistic. The fear is over,” she adds.
The White Helmets, a rescue organization, said they were looking for “hidden underground cells”, fueling the hope of families.
“We are in a race against time. At any moment, one more person could die,” said Mohammad Geha, a volunteer taking part in the work. “We only have basic means, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
– No proof of death –
Amnesty International has recorded thousands of executions and denounces “a veritable policy of extermination” in Saydnaya, a “human slaughterhouse”.
Mohammad al-Jabi, 40, is looking for four of his relatives. “They were all arrested on terrorism charges, including my nephew who was 14 at the time,” he says.
“They took them from their homes and we visited them only once. Then they told us that they were dead and asked that we come and take their identity cards,” adds this man.
But “they haven’t given us any proof, and we still hope that they are alive.”
Most detainees who have not been released are officially considered missing, with their death certificates rarely reaching their families unless their relatives pay exorbitant bribes as part of a widespread racketeering .
Khaled Attieh, 55, is looking for his brother who has been detained since 2012 in this sinister prison. “We came to visit him, he was alive,” he confides. He last saw him six years ago.
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