Hanging from the ceiling of the damp, ramshackle prison cell, and above the mountain of dirty prison uniforms, is a sun-bleached punching bag, too pale to have been recently replaced.
Although this would not normally be a cause for great concern, its location, one of Syria’s most notorious prisons, gives it a sickening aura.
The worn piece of equipment hangs eerily next to a rusty, bent wheel welded to a thin metal frame.
One can only imagine what or who was hanging on to him.
These are just some of the horrific images that have begun to emerge from the so-called “White Building”, also known as the execution wing of the Sednaya prison in Damascus, Syria, which became famous as the site of inhumane torture under the overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Since its fall on December 10, countless Syrians have flooded prisons like Sednaya, hoping to find answers about where their loved ones may be, living or dead.
Some 4,300 prisoners were held in Saydnaya, the most depraved of Assad’s prison network, where 60,000 were tortured and murdered during his murderous reign.
Human rights groups say more than 100,000 Syrians have gone missing since the dictator’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011, and since the dictator’s fall, their loved ones have been searching for answers.
Hanging from the ceiling of the damp, ramshackle prison cell, and atop the mountain of dirty prison uniforms, is a sun-bleached punching bag, too pale to have been recently replaced.
Since its fall on December 10, countless Syrians have flooded prisons like Sednaya, hoping to find answers about where their loved ones may be, living or dead.
But they have found little more than messages from beyond.
One particularly sad image showed slightly incorrect quotes from a Celine Dion song, incorrectly attributed to ‘Maria Carry’.
‘Live and die; laugh and cry; Life is a dream that we are dreaming; Day by day; I find my way; Look for the song and the meaning,’ the quote says.
There is no further sign of the author of the child’s doodle, who describes himself as “AMH – Spy.”
A tragic note, found among deserted blankets, shows a photo of a handsome man in a cafe with several love hearts around him.
The letter reads: ‘Abu Jamlu, dear… You are my support in difficulties, oh dearest of friends, the loyal friend whom we trust from God.
And in all the world I have no more beloved than you. Your path is entrusted to God.
‘May God perpetuate love and unite us for good abroad… I’m tired of the country, I’m tired…’
The filthy prison was famous as a place of torture under the Assad regime.
You can see the image of a girl lovingly sewn into a darned red heart made of wool.
Dozens of people were forced to sleep in the same cells in the prison
Other messages were apparently carved into the walls and ceilings of other unlit cells.
On the floor of the prison cells were countless photographs of loved ones long separated by Assad’s terror.
You can see the image of a girl lovingly sewn into a darned red heart made of wool.
The whereabouts of these people are not known, and may never be known.
But desperate for answers, Syrians will continue searching for their loved ones, perhaps forever.
Firas Kaid was one of those people. Desperate to find his uncle, who was kidnapped by Assad’s confidant five years ago, he was one of thousands who stormed Saydnaya prison.
But that hope was quickly extinguished when he joined thousands of other desperate relatives to search the “human slaughterhouse” near Damascus for signs of life.
One particularly sad image showed slightly incorrect quotes from a Celine Dion song, incorrectly attributed to ‘Maria Carry’.
Desperate prisoners apparently carved messages into their cell walls
The messages were apparently recorded on the ceilings and walls of the cells.
“It is an evil like you have never seen,” Kaid told the Mail after three days of searching the compound following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“I looked at some files and they all said, ‘He participated in terrorist acts, caused someone’s death.’ They all say, ‘Cardiac arrest. Dead in the hospital. Dead, dead, dead.’
‘Everyone needs to see this. Film it and show it to the whole world. Show everyone, show all Arab countries, the crimes and evil of Bashar al-Assad.’
When the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group stormed the Syrian capital over the weekend, thousands of people rushed to Saydnaya to free their loved ones from the inferno.
They found a “medieval” underground labyrinth of small, narrow cells filled with skeletal prisoners lying on dirty blankets.
Rumors circulated about “secret” torture chambers buried underground where the “disappeared” had been held, prolonging hope that the missing could still be found.
But after days of searching, the Syrian Civil Defense, nicknamed the White Helmets, yesterday (Tuesday) canceled the mission saying there was no evidence of “undiscovered secret cells.”
“Teams inspected all entrances, exits, ventilation ducts, sewage systems, water pipes, electrical wiring and surveillance camera cables,” the group said in a statement. “Despite these extensive efforts, no hidden or sealed areas were identified.”
Assad’s fall has led many to hope for answers to questions about what happened to their loved ones.
Syrians have been flooding the prison seeking answers about where their loved ones may be.
Piles of rubbish were seen dumped inside Sednaya’s cells.
A spokesperson said they “shared the deep disappointment of the families of the thousands of people who remain missing and whose fate remains unknown.”
Amniya Izza, from Al-Kiswa, is searching for her husband, brother and son-in-law, who were kidnapped 11 years ago.
“My husband was arrested on the highway,” she said. ‘I was traveling with my brother and they just took him away.
‘People tell us that they are buried, but no one knows anything about them… My heart tells me that they are alive. Inshallah, I hope.
Some relatives have been reunited, but the state of the prisoners left Mrs Izza shaken. “They’re so thin,” he said.
‘Their faces are yellow. They have no meat, only bones. Bones came out of there. May Allah help.’
Another woman searching for her brother and nephew, who had been detained for ten years, cursed Assad and his henchmen. “May Allah punish them,” he told the Mail. ‘May Allah take revenge on them.’
‘They took them off the street, just like that, for no reason. What can anyone feel here except sadness? Honestly, it makes me want to cry. What can I tell you?
Torn photographs of dictator Bashar al-Assad were seen on the prison door frames.
An aerial view of the ‘White Building’, also known as the execution block of the Sednaya prison, famous for torture under the overthrown regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, on December 10, 2024.
Syrian rebels said yesterday (Tuesday) that they found around 40 bodies with signs of torture in the morgue of a military hospital serving Saydnaya.
Videos and photographs showed bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shrouds stacked inside a refrigerated room.
Several of the bodies appeared to have wounds and bruises on their faces and torsos. Pieces of tape with numbers and names were also visible.
“I opened the morgue door with my bare hands, it was a horrible sight,” Mohammed al-Hajj, a member of a rebel group in southern Syria, told AFP.
From Harasta the bodies would be transferred to mass graves.