Dozens of bodies were found at the prison, dubbed the human slaughterhouse [Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty]
A jailer who was allegedly responsible for secret underground wards at the infamous Saydnaya prison in Syria has reportedly made damning confessions about more secret wards holding further prisoners following his capture, the pan-Arab Al Arabiya news channel has reported.
The individual, whose identity was not disclosed, was apprehended on Wednesday after he allegedly tried to sneak into the prison to confiscate some documents that would reportedly give more details about the fallen regime’s crimes.
Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, previously said no more secret cells existed after inspecting the prison for three days; however, it has become clear that more may yet be uncovered.
The operations management for the Syrian rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group, told Al Arabiya that the jailer reportedly revealed to them the whereabouts of more detainees and a secret ward at the prison.
Al Arabiya was asked not to film but kept the cameras rolling.
Families of prisoners were at the scene waiting anxiously to hear news of their loved ones.
The jailer was allegedly one of very few people who knew about the secret wards and how they were managed. He had reportedly worked at Saydnaya since 2008 and was in possession of codes that lead to the underground ward, which could likely expose more horrors.
Some documents allegedly related to the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s premier Rafik Hariri and the killing of the now-defunct regime’s former interior minister Ghazi Kanaan that same year were also revealed after people got their hands on them. The classified documents were read out by Al Arabiya’s correspondent.
Saydnaya was broken into by rebels when they captured Damascus and officially toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Sunday, freeing hundreds of prisoners, some of whom had been kept for decades without trial and in bleak conditions.
Rebels liberated prisons elsewhere around Syria as they began a lighting offensive on 27 November in the country’s northwest. Dozens of bodies were also found, and families have spent days trying to see if their loved ones were among those killed.
Gruesome details of the detention facility were quickly brought to light when rebels took over Damascus, including a machine used to crush the bodies of those sentenced to death. Harrowing images have been shared, showing the extent of torture the prisoners were subjected to.
Saydnaya prison was divided into two sections. It included the white prison, which had wards for ordinary detainees, and the red prison, where people given the death sentence were placed, sometimes without fair and proper trials. Amnesty International reports that around 13,000 pro-opposition Syrians were killed at the facility between the years 2011 and 2016.
Assad and his family fled to Moscow where they were given political asylum. Russia had helped prop up the Assad regime during the country’s war that erupted in 2011 and has killed hundreds of thousands of people and devastated much of Syria.
