Syria frontline: inside Assad’s notorious jail of torture and execution | BBC News

Huge crowds of Syrians gathered at the notorious Saydnaya prison searching for their relatives, following the collapse of the Assad regime.

Saydnaya, known by Syrians as the “human slaughterhouse” is where the Assad family held opponents of their regime for decades.

Thousands of people are believed to have been detained, tortured and executed at the prison since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

BBC News at Ten presents frontline reporting by Barbara Plett Usher in Damascus.

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[Mr_Fu_Manchu]

Here, in Romania we had the same experience 30 years ago, our hearts goes with Syrian ppl, God bless them.

[shakole]

Assad should be arrested for what he did to humamity.

[yutakaroger]

This news reminds me of young Syrian lady I‘ve met 30 years ago in Japan. Very bright and beautiful young lady came to Japan for studying International Relations. She once told me about difficulty of going back to Syria after completion of her study. I have no knowledge about her whereabouts. I just want to wish peace for all the Syrian people.

[ShahedAhmad-ez]

I will never forgive him for what he did to us, he abandoned us and killed us He tortured us severely. There are still many crimes he committed, so he must be punished.

[theresahtembo]

Russia and Iran must be hold accountable what they did in Syria and Ukraine

[emericdion]

Don't see any assad supporters mentioning this

[syriafriends]

One of the most sad and terrifying aspects is the children of Sednaya prison, who were born in prison and do not know who their fathers, the jailers, are. Some of them are five years old, some are seven, some are younger than that, and some died young. None of them have seen the sky or the sun even once in their lives. They do not know the meaning of a bird, a tree, or a flower. They only know the walls of the prison and the face of the jailer who tortures them and rapes their mother. This is what was going on behind the scenes in Bashar al-Assad’s prisons.

[carolynsilvers]

May those in captivity be discovered and rescued

[Zamy-hdjd]

Some of them spent forty years there and thought that Saddam Hussein came to free them from prison.

[isamontine]

I would never imagine praising a strong group, but I congratulate them, they freed a people who were massacred by their own government, may peace be established in Syria, may it be a free and equal country for all, may everyone follow their own path and rebuild their lives, shame on Russia for supporting a president of this level, may God bless the Syrian people

[CoronaryArteryDisease.]

Thank you for posting this. The things human beings do to each other can be so horrible sometimes!

[grsam]

Not only the butcher of Syria but also all the entities including foreign govt should be held accountable who aided him in his atrocities!!!

[theancientsancients]

For 50 years the Sunni Muslims that form 80 percent majority were oppressed by the Assad family

[BernadetteHolman]

My heart breaks for you people .we are at the beginning of going through this in the uk so much love and healing to you all x

[ruby-jkoe]

I pray from another country... in our wars, Syria didn't supported us but I pray for everyone, peace is peace ❤🙏🏾

[PaulLisiMtlQC]

Syria has the right to protect itself from Iran and Russia

[yetmautotrading]

Dictatorships in the world are not concerned about people's rights, death and hunger are their seat of power.😢

[SujoyBanerjee]

I don't know why people has so much passion to hate each other and so little compassion to love and help each other grow.😢

[tomr]

This place is a crime scene. And documents such as seen @ 2:28 should be preserved and studied as evidence for any clues leading to those responsible, such as guards, jailers, administrators, contractors and anyone else that needs to be held accountable.

[girl]

Horrible, horrible, horrible. But the new day is dawning. Thank you BBC reporters for your priceless efforts.