How did the Assad regime get $900 million from the families of detainees?

According to the association's data, government officials and regime supporters have earned about $900 million, and hundreds of thousands of people have been arrested since protests erupted against the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad in early 2011.

abandoned records

Thirteen years after the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, the doors of Sednaya prison (about 30 kilometers north of Damascus) - a large, dark building with gray walls overlooking a barren valley where some luxurious villas appear - are now open.

This time, instead of paying officials or middlemen for scraps of information, families are desperately searching abandoned records for news of their missing relatives.

The young man, Hassan Hashem, who came from the Hama countryside in northern Syria, said that he came to search for his brother, who has been detained in Sednaya prison since 2019, in a last desperate attempt to find out his fate.

Hashem added that his other brother used to visit his detained brother, but “a year ago they took him back to Branch 48 for re-investigation, and we were pursuing him and paid more than 12 thousand dollars.”

He referred to promises that "he will be released today, he will be released tomorrow," adding that his brother "is married and has four daughters and was accused of terrorism."

Hashem continues that when his brother, who was convicted of “international terrorism and bearing arms against the state,” was transferred to the Mezzeh Air Base in Damascus, the family was linked to a relative of a senior official in the regime.

"They said they needed $100,000 to get him out. I told them even if I sold my entire village I wouldn't get $100,000. Where would I get that amount?" he says.

Now, stunned civilians and rebel fighters wander through Sednaya's concrete cellblocks, kicking over filthy, abandoned sleeping mats that show each cell was once packed with 20 prisoners.

Rescuers have been punching holes in walls to check out rumours of secret floors holding missing prisoners, but thousands of families are left frustrated that their relatives may be dead and never be found.

We want the truth

Fighters and visitors stand on the ground floor of one section of the prison in front of a hydraulic press that former detainees say was used to crush prisoners during torture sessions.

The floor of the next room, which houses more industrial equipment, is slippery with foul-smelling grease.

Ayoush Hassan (66 years old) - who came from the Aleppo countryside in search of her son - says angrily, "A month ago, they asked for 300 thousand, and they said that they asked for his file, and he is in Sednaya and he is fine."

"He's not here, he's not with us," she added tearfully, describing the scene of burned records as people gathered to hear her story and find out what was making her sad.

"We want our children alive or dead, burned or in ashes or buried in mass graves, just tell us," she said.

"They lied to us," she added bitterly. "We lived on hope for 13 years, believing that he would be released in a month, in the next two months, this year, or on Mother's Day. All of these were lies."

Source: Reuters