Syrians rush to notorious prison to search for loved ones

Thousands of Syrians headed Monday to Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus to search for their loved ones.

Civil defense workers and teams from the White Helmets civil defense group were seen digging holes inside the prison in search for hidden cells or underground chambers.

People were seen wandering inside the infamous prison, known as the “human slaughterhouse,” a place that for long time horrified the Syrian people.

“We have detainees who were taken since 2011, 2012 and 2013,” said Ghazwan Hussein, who came looking for relatives and friends.

As insurgents swept across Syria in just 10 days to bring an end to the Assad family’s 50-year rule, they broke into prisons and security facilities to free political prisoners and many of the tens of thousands of people who disappeared since the conflict began back in 2011.

On Sunday, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as men broke the locks off their cell doors.

Syria’s prisons have been infamous for their harsh conditions.

Torture is systematic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees.

Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.

Amnesty International and other groups say that dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, estimating that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016.

In 2013, a Syrian military defector, known as “Caesar,” smuggled out over 53,000 photographs that human rights groups say showed clear evidence of rampant torture, but also disease and starvation in Syria’s prison facilities.