Since 2011, thousands of detainees have died, tortured or executed during nocturnal mass hangings.
Built on a hill, 30 kilometers from Damascus, the Saydnaya prison establishment will have instilled terror in generations of Syrians: a place of damnation where men are not “nor alive[s] nor death[s] »in the words of the poet Faraj Bayrakdar, arrested for “communist activities” and who survived fourteen years of detention in various prisons across the country.
Summary arrests, forced disappearances and systematic torture inflicted on prisoners – men, women and children – were the instruments of the Al-Assad regime’s rule, since the coup d’état which marked its rise to power in 1970. Among of the 27 main prison centers in Syria, that of Saydnaya had a special status.
Built by Hafez Al-Assad (1930-2000) in 1987 to hold 5,000 people, it imprisoned up to 20,000 at the same time starting with the popular uprising of 2011 against his son, Bashar Al-Assad. . Under the latter’s reign, Saydnaya became, more than a prison, an extermination camp.
The complex was opened by rebel armed forces who took power on December 8, 2024.
Two surrounding walls, equipped with watchtowers, barricade the entrance. The first, on the outside, is lined with anti-tank mines, the second with anti-personnel mines. It was not only a matter of countering possible attacks launched from outside by the armed opposition, but also of destroying any attempt at escape from within. After 2011, this device was reinforced by a 2S1 Gvozdika, a Soviet self-propelled artillery gun. The only passage was through a gate controlled by armed soldiers.
Inside the complex, which covers an area of 1.4 square kilometers, a dozen armored vehicles patrolled between several buildings, including two separate places of detention.
The main one, called the “red building”Y-shaped, includes three wings of identical size. It was reserved for civilians who had “confessed” to a crime or considered “enemies” of the Syrian people: Islamists, Muslim Brothers, Communists, Nasserists, Kurdish opponents, journalists, or ordinary citizens who were victims of the denunciation of a neighbor or a rival. Not counting those who were arrested to put pressure on a parent. At the end of March 2011, 260 Islamists were extracted by the regime. Another release of jihadists took place in June 2011. At that date, most of the detainees were demonstrators, opponents or perceived as such.
The second, called “white building”L-shaped and of more recent construction, was intended for soldiers suspected of disloyalty. From 2011, it was used to detain other civilians. It also contains the execution room. Satellite images declassified by Washington in 2017, supported by testimonies from survivors, suggest the presence of a crematorium. Until now, its existence has not been confirmed.
