DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Bashar Barhoum woke in his dungeon jail cell in Damascus at daybreak Sunday, considering it could be the final day of his life.
The 63-year-old author was presupposed to have been executed after being imprisoned for seven months.
But he quickly realized the boys on the door weren’t from former Syrian President Bashar Assad ’s infamous safety forces, able to take him to his dying. Instead, they have been rebels coming to set him free.
As the insurgents swept throughout Syria in simply 10 days to carry an finish to the Assad household’s 50-year rule, they broke into prisons and safety services to free political prisoners and lots of the tens of hundreds of people that disappeared because the battle started again in 2011.
Barhoum was a kind of freed who have been celebrating in Damascus.
“I haven’t seen the solar till right now,” Barhoum instructed The Associated Press after strolling in disbelief by the streets of Damascus. “Instead of being lifeless tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a brand new lease of life.”
Barhoum couldn’t discover his cellphone and belongings within the jail so set off to discover a strategy to inform his spouse and daughters that he’s alive and effectively.
Videos shared broadly throughout social media confirmed dozens of prisoners working in celebration after the insurgents launched them, some barefoot and others sporting little clothes. One of them screams in celebration after he finds out that the federal government has fallen.
Torture, executions and hunger in Syria’s prisons
Syria’s prisons have been notorious for his or her harsh situations. Torture is systematic, say human rights teams, whistleblowers, and former detainees. Secret executions have been reported at greater than two dozen services run by Syrian intelligence, in addition to at different websites.
In 2013, a Syrian navy defector, often called “Caesar,” smuggled out over 53,000 pictures that human rights teams say confirmed clear proof of rampant torture, but in addition illness and hunger in Syria’s jail services.
Syria’s feared safety equipment and prisons didn’t solely serve to isolate Assad’s opponents, but in addition to instill worry amongst his personal folks stated Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow within the Middle East and North Africa program on the London suppose tank Chatham House.
“Anxiety about being thrown in one in every of Assad’s infamous prisons created huge distrust amongst Syrians,” Khatib stated. “Assad nurtured this tradition of worry to keep up management and crush political opposition.”
Just north of Damascus within the Saydnaya navy jail, often called the “human slaughterhouse,” ladies detainees, some with their kids, screamed as males broke the locks off their cell doorways. Amnesty International and different teams say that dozens of individuals have been secretly executed each week in Saydnaya, estimating that as much as 13,000 Syrians have been killed between 2011 and 2016.
“Don’t be afraid … Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?” stated one of many rebels as he tried to hurry streams of girls out of their jam-packed tiny cells.
Tens of hundreds of detainees have to date been freed, stated Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based pro-opposition struggle monitor.
Over the previous 10 days, insurgents freed prisoners in cities together with Aleppo, Homs, Hama in addition to Damascus.
Families search family members who’ve been lacking for years
Omar Alshogre, who was detained for 3 years and survived relentless torture, watched in awe from his residence removed from Syria as movies confirmed dozens of detainees fleeing.
“100 democracies on the planet had executed nothing to assist them, and now a number of navy teams got here down and broke open jail after jail,” Alshogre, a human rights advocate who now resides in Sweden and the U.S., instructed The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, households of detainees and the disappeared skipped celebrations of the downfall of the Assad dynasty. Instead, they waited exterior prisons and safety department facilities, hoping their family members could be there. They had excessive expectations for the newcomers who will now run the battered nation.
“This happiness won’t be accomplished till I can see my son out of jail and know the place he’s,” stated Bassam Masri. “I’ve been looking for him for 2 hours. He has been detained for 13 years,” because the begin of the Syrian rebellion in 2011.
Rebels struggled to manage the chaos as crowds gathered by the Court of Justice in Damascus.
Heba, who solely gave her first title whereas chatting with the AP, stated she was searching for her brother and brother-in-law who have been detained whereas reporting a stolen automotive in 2011 and hadn’t been seen since.
“They took away so many people,” stated Heba, whose mom’s cousin additionally disappeared. “We know nothing about them … They (the Assad authorities) burned our hearts.”
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Sarah El-Deeb and Ghaith Alsayed in Damascus contributed to this report.
