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2024-12-13 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Free Sednaya prisoners battle trauma, illnesses in Syrian hospitals
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Heartbreaking. [Rudaw] Hundreds of prisoners who were freed from the notorious Sednaya prison, following the fall of the Bashir al-Assad regime, have been admitted to hospitals across Syria to receive treatment following years of abuse.
Mohammed Salmu was only 19 years old when he was arrested and put in the infamous prison in Damascus. His relatives still do not know the reason behind his arrest.
Salmu has spent at least 43 years in the Syrian regime prisons.
He's severely traumatized, lost his memory, and is unable to speak.
"His condition is zero. He's worn out and has lost his memory. He doesn't respond and doesn't talk at all, he's scared. When we try to talk to him, he startles and scares you, me, and people around him," said Ahmed Hussein, his son-in-law.
Salmu is one of the thousands of freed inmates receiving treatment at the Syrian hospitals, including al-Mouwasat Hospital, after they endured the worst kinds of torture in Syrian prisons.
Alla Ramadan, another prisoner, has been missing for over 14 years. His mother has been looking everywhere for her son, but to no avail.
"I can't find him. He's been missing for 14 years. 14 years and no signs, he went and never came back," Ramadan's mother said in tears.
"He didn't participate in demonstrations, neither did he do something wrong. They took him, and I'm not sure if he's dead or alive. I'm still looking for him. May God punish the perpetrators," she added.
More than 100 freed prisoners are currently admitted to al-Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus, with the majority of them suffering from trauma, lost the ability to speak, and unable to recognize their loved ones.
"Frankly, their condition is extremely exhausting. But we like the fact that they feel secure and we are by their side. And we provide medicine based on the condition of the detainee," said Nadin Matni, Head of the ambulance team at Al Mouwasat Hospital.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, more than 136,614 people, including 3,698 children and 8,504 women, were detained in Syrian prisons during the Syrian civil war between March 2011 and December 2024.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated in January 2021 that 30,000 detainees were brutally killed by the Assad regime in Sednaya from torture, ill-treatment, and mass executions since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Notorious Syrian prison deeply traumatizes Kurdish man
[Rudaw] A Kurdish man was finally found in the infamous Sednaya prison near Damascus after disappearing from the border town of Suruc (Pirsus) in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province over five years ago.
Aydin Dagac disappeared in Suruc five years and six months ago. Until now, there had been no information about him, but he was found and freed by rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) when they broke into prisons after ousting Bashar al-Assad.
The experience has left him severely traumatized. His mother, Nayide Dagac, describes him as someone with a mental illness. His time there left him suffering from PTSD and his mental illness has worsened.
At his family home, Dagac wanders as if he is still in prison, moving from one corner to another and unable to accept reality - that he is free.
Syria’s civil war dramatically reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army, seizing the northern cities of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and culminating their victory by capturing the capital Damascus as Assad fled the country, ending over five decades of Baathist rule.
Celebrations across Syria, sparked by the fall of the regime, were abruptly halted as chilling stories about the inmates of the Sednaya prison in the Damascus suburbs began to emerge. These stories provide a disturbing look into how the Assad family brutally treated prisoners during their decades-long rule.
Sednaya has become a symbol of the regime's brutal repression, notorious for torture, sexual assault, and mass executions.
People from across Syria have traveled to Sednaya, hoping to find traces of loved ones arrested during anti-government protests throughout the 14-year Syrian civil war.
Man identifying himself as American Travis Timmerman found in Syria after being freed from prison
[CBSnews] A man identifying himself as an American from Missouri, Travis Timmerman, was found Thursday in Syria after he said he was freed from a prison earlier in the week, when longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was forced from power by a shock rebel offensive.
Timmerman told CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer that he had been trying to make his own way out of the country after walking out of the prison where he'd been held for more than half of a year. He said he was detained upon entering Syria without permission seven months ago after spending a month in neighboring Lebanon.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, briefly addressed the discovery of Timmerman.
"In terms of an American citizen who was found just today, I can't give you any details on exactly what's going to happen except to say that we're working to bring them home, to bring them out of Syria and to bring them home," Blinken said. "But for privacy reasons, I can't share any more detail than that at this point."
A U.S. official previously told CBS News the government was aware of the reports that an American had been found outside Damascus and that it was seeking to provide support, but the official declined to provide any further detail out of respect for his privacy.
Timmerman said two men armed with AK-47s broke his prison door down Monday with a hammer.
"My door was busted down, it woke me up," Timmerman said. "I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the warfare could have been more active than it ended up being… Once we got out, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting."
Timmerman said he had gone to Syria for Christian "spiritual purposes" and that his experience in prison "wasn't too bad."
"I was never beaten. The only really bad part was that I couldn't go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom," he said.
Timmerman said he left the prison with a large group and started walking away. He said he had been trying to head toward Jordan.
He said he "had a few moments of fear," when he left the prison, and hadn't really processed that he was free.
"I still haven't really thought about that. I've been more worried about finding a place to sleep each night since then," he told CBS News. "So I've been working, really."
Timmerman said he hadn't been afraid to approach people to ask for help or a place to sleep at night on his journey.
"They were coming to me, mostly," Timmerman said, adding that he'd spoken with his family three weeks ago, through a phone that he had while in prison. He said he had been allowed to use it.
"I'm feeling well. I've been fed and I've been watered, so I'm feeling well," Timmerman said.
Timmerman was named as "Travis Pete Timmerman" on a missing person's bulletin published by Hungarian police in August, which said he had been last seen at a church in the country.
A missing person's bulletin published by the Missouri State Highway Patrol said that Timmerman, whose first name was listed as Pete, had been last seen in Budapest. The bulletin said the date of his last contact had been June 2, 2024, and that he was 29 years old when he went missing.
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Posted by trailing wife 2024-12-13 00:00||
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File under: Govt of Syria
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Posted by badanov 2024-12-13 12:31||
2024-12-13 12:31||
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