13.12.2024 15:21
Ömer Şuğri, a former inmate of Sednaya Prison, known as the "Human Slaughterhouse" in Syria, said, "After the guards drank alcohol, they would enter the cell where the prisoners were held, choose a strong prisoner and a weak one, and they would ask the strong one to rape the weak one."
In Syria, after the opposition took control of the capital Damascus, the Assad regime's atrocities in Sednaya Prison, known as the "Human Slaughterhouse," came to light. The opposition opened the doors of Sednaya, releasing prisoners and allowing families to search for their missing loved ones.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2017, nearly 50 people were hanged daily in Sednaya, where thousands of corpses were extracted from torture and death cells. Syrians, led by the White Helmets, found machines used for pressing corpses and torture devices while trying to reach their loved ones in Sednaya. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' 2017 statement, nearly 50 people were hanged daily in Sednaya, where thousands of corpses were extracted from torture and death cells.
FORMER PRISONER RECOUNTS EVERYTHING ONE BY ONE Ömer Şuğri, who entered this prison on August 14, 2014, and stayed there for 10 months, detailed the inhumane torture methods he was subjected to, describing it with the words of Syrians: "Those who enter disappear; those who come out are like they are reborn."
THE RED PAINTING HAS A SPECIAL MEANING Sednaya Prison consists of two large buildings. The first building is shaped like the letter "L" in English, while the second building is known as the "Red Building." According to Ömer, the "Red Building" was not originally painted red. However, after the uprising in Sednaya in 2008, it was painted red to remind prisoners of the tortures inflicted on their friends during the uprising.
DESPITE BEING SICK, HE SAID "I'M FINE" When Ömer was taken to Sednaya, the door of the old and dilapidated refrigerated truck opened, and within seconds, the guards began to beat Ömer and the 54 other prisoners with him. At that time, Ömer was suffering from symptoms of tuberculosis. His health deteriorated in the Military Security Branch, and he was considering informing the guards about it. The guards began asking the prisoners if they were sick. One prisoner answered "Yes." Upon this, the guards said, "You need care. Come here!" and violently attacked him, killing him. When Ömer was asked the same question, he, despite being sick, said, "I'm perfectly fine."
THEY FELL TO THE GROUND, GUARDS BEAT THEM IN TURN All prisoners were forced to completely undress. Then they fell to the ground in a prostration position. The guards then began to beat the prisoners in turn with a tank strap. The thickness of the strap was 5 cm, its width was between 10-13 cm, and its length was between 60 and 70 cm. Ömer, while trying to explain to the world how cruel this torture method was, said: "Imagine, the guard has to use both hands while beating us. When naked, a single blow from the strap can paralyze your ribs. Before the strap reaches your back, you hear a terrible sound. The sound of air. When the strap hits the body, it makes a sound like a bullet being fired."
"MY HEART COLLAPSED FROM THE INTENSITY OF PAIN" Ömer expressed the pain he experienced from being hit with the tank strap: "When I was beaten, I felt nothing anymore; I lost my perception of what was happening around me, and my heart collapsed from the intensity of pain."
"I SAW DISMEMBERED CORPSES" According to Ömer, after the painful "welcome party" ended and he entered the prison, he saw the horrifying images of prisoners' corpses in one of the rooms, and he expressed that the smell of those decaying bodies was sharp. Ömer said: "I saw dismembered corpses; some of their bodies were intact, and their bellies were open. The story of these corpses was mysterious. I don't know if the organs were stolen to be sold or not. I also saw corpses without sexual organs."
"THE HORROR OF THE 'DEATH TRAIN'" Ömer returned to his single cell in Sednaya Prison. The prisoners were suffering from severe hunger, and the situation worsened with the water cut-off. In these single cells, 8 to 12 people were held. Ömer said: "Five people died in the cells next to mine. The remaining prisoners had no place to stand because the corpses were spread across the width and length of the cell."
On the eleventh day in his single cell, Ömer and the other prisoners were asked to go from underground to upstairs. They were all ordered to hold onto the "waist" of the prisoner in front of them and place their heads behind the person in front of them. Ömer said, "If your hands slip from the waist of the person in front of you, you will die." This is what Ömer refers to as the "death train" in Sednaya Prison. Before the prisoners were placed in collective cells, a guard gave them their instructions and, according to Ömer, said: "There is no God here, no prayer, the cell door is like your sisters; will you accept someone approaching it? Then stay away from the cell door."
BEING A CELL LEADER MEANS BEING CLOSE TO DEATH Being a cell leader in Sednaya means being closest to death. Ömer adds, "Many prisoners died within 15 minutes of being appointed as cell leaders," and explains many of their causes of death: The cell leader faces the risk of being severely beaten by the guards while removing the dead or distributing food to the prisoners. In this case, the cell leader dies within minutes or hours.
"THEY ARE BEATING ME, ÖMER" Ömer described one of the cell leaders who died from fear rather than beating: "His name was Abdulahhap Reda Kariz, and he was from the city of Al Tall in the rural area of Damascus."Here is the translated text while preserving the original HTML structure and translating the `title` and `alt` attributes of the `img` tag:
They made him the dormitory chief. He knew he was going to die, his psychological state was poor, and he no longer ate. 'Abdulvahhap was shouting, "Ömer, they are beating me." Ömer replied, "While we were eating, Abdulvahhap's body slid from the wall to the floor of the cell and he died."
INTERROGATION LASTED A FEW SECONDS On September 9, 2014, Ömer was taken to the military police court in Kabun. There, he was subjected to a brief interrogation that lasted only a few seconds. Ömer hoped that the judge would believe that he did not carry a weapon, did not kill anyone, and that all his statements were taken under torture. The judge asked, "How many people did you kill?" Ömer replied, "I didn't kill anyone." The judge ordered him to leave the room, and the case ended immediately. Ömer was sent back to Sednaya Prison.
RAPE HORROR FROZE THE BLOOD Ömer, who stated that the detainees in Sednaya Prison were subjected to sexual abuse, said, "After the guards drank alcohol, they would enter the cell where the detainees were, choose a strong detainee and a weak detainee, and ask the strong one to rape the weak one. When the guards were drunk, they sometimes entered the cells and beat the detainees. When leaving the cell, they usually did not leave without a pool of blood in the middle."
Ömer recounted that one of the guards went to the dormitory chiefs in the adjacent 10 cells and asked each of them to kill someone within half an hour. "Just minutes before the half-hour was up, the dormitory chief would usually choose a weak detainee and kill him by breaking his neck. Because if he did not carry out the order, he knew he would be tortured repeatedly by the guards and eventually killed. Some were sent to Necha Cemetery, while others were sent to Tishreen Military Hospital," he stated.
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM Ömer never expected to taste freedom again after two years and eight months of his arrest. An officer from the Assad regime's army promised Ömer's surviving family members to release him from Sednaya Prison for 15,000 US dollars. The officer kept his promise and released Ömer from Sednaya Prison without even bringing him to court. The prison officials took Ömer to a street in Sednaya and released him there. When Ömer was freed, he immediately headed to Damascus. However, at that time, he did not know whether his mother and family were alive after the massacres carried out in the Beyda region of his village, Banyas.
When Ömer reached the Zablitani neighborhood in the capital of Syria, Damascus, he weighed only 35 kilograms. A few young people welcomed him there and helped him contact his family. After a while, someone came and took Ömer to a hotel in Damascus. Here, Ömer had the chance to communicate with his mother. However, shortly after, his health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, and he was taken to a private hospital. After a slight improvement in his health, an officer took Ömer to the Kalat El-Madik area in the rural Hama region. From there, he was smuggled into Turkey.
When his family first saw him, they were devastated; the prison had completely drained Ömer's health. Ömer describes those days: "My little brother was so scared of my appearance that he didn't come near me for two days."
After staying in Turkey for a few days, Ömer crossed to Greece by boat and then reached Sweden. He is currently living in Sweden and seems determined to continue his life. Learning Swedish, Ömer claims to have achieved great success compared to his peers and received treatment for tuberculosis.
Ömer bravely recounts the pains he experienced during his detention. While talking about the torture and violations, he meets his emotional wounds with a smile. However, inside, he carries a strong determination to tell the world about the suffering he endured and what other detainees went through.
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