Sednaya Prison
Coordinates: 33°39′54″N 36°19′43″E / 33.66500°N 36.32861°E
Sednaya Prison is a military prison near Damascus in Syria. The prison has been used to hold thousands political prisoners,[1] among them members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.
After protests by detainees in July 2008, hundreds of detainees were injured and dozens of Islamist prisoners were killed.[2]
After months of anti-Government protests in 2011, many Islamist prisoners were released in several amnesties.[3] Zahran Alloush, Abu Shadi Aboud (brother of Hassan Aboud[4]) and Ahmed Abu Issa were some of the more prominent prisoners released from the prison. After their release many took up arms against the regime, and became leaders of Islamist rebel groups including Jaysh al-Islam, Ahrar ash-Sham and Suqour al-Sham Brigade in the Syrian Civil War.
There have repeatedly been reports on inhumane conditions for detainees in Sednaya (as well as other Syrian prisons), ranging from torture and malnutrition to spontaneous executions without fair trials.[1][5][6][7]
"Seventy-five per cent of people who go into Sednaya do not come out alive. It is a field court, where most 'judges' are from the secret police."— A Syrian lawyer working with prisoners in Hama[1]
Former inmates
- Zahran Alloush,former leader of Jaysh al-Islam
- Hassan Aboud, former leader of Ahrar ash-Sham
- Abu Yahia al-Hamawi, current leader of Ahrar ash-Sham
- Ahmed Abu Issa, leader of Suqour al-Sham Brigade
- Abu Muhammad al adnani,former leader and spokesperson of Islamic state
- Abu luqman,current Islamic state governor of Raqqah
See also
- 2014 Syrian detainee report
- Hama prison
References
- 1 2 3 "Syrian prisoners take over prison, claiming President Assad is about to start torturing and executing them". The Independent. 2016.
- ↑ Line Khatib (2011). Islamic Revivalism in Syria: The Rise and Fall of Ba'thist Secularism. Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-415-78203-6. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ↑ Abouzeid, Rania (23 June 2014). "The Jihad Next Door". Politico. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- ↑ "Behind the Black Flag: The Recruitment of an ISIS Killer". The New York Times. 21 December 2015.
- ↑ "Thousands of Inmates Killed in Sednaya Prison from Torture, Disease, Malnutrition: Former Prisoner". The Syrian Observer. 2015.
- ↑ "Ex-detainee tells about horror of Sednaya Prison, 285 Security Branch". Zaman Al Wasl. 2016.
- ↑ "If the Dead Could Speak - Mass Deaths and Torture in Syria's Detention Facilities". Human Rights Watch. 2015.
External links
- "Révélations sur le massacre de la prison de Saydnaya". Courrier international (in French). Retrieved 2015-10-20.
- "Syria: Investigate Sednaya Prison Deaths". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
- "Saydnaya - Inside a Syrian torture prison". Amnesty International. Retrieved 2016-08-24.