Released Saydnaya prisoners “didn’t know their names”

In the hours after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, hundreds flocked to the place that for many was the epitome of his repressive rule: Saydnaya Prison.

The notorious military complex has been used over the decades to imprison tens of thousands of people who have clashed with the Syrian government.

Among those searching for people who had disappeared within the walls was Dr. Sharvan Ibesh, managing director of the Bahar aid organization.

He arrived there at midnight to help a friend find her father, who she said has been held there for 13 years.

Dr. Ibesh described scenes of “chaos” as hundreds of people in prison tried to find their loved ones.

“It was very disappointing. “We haven’t found him and we haven’t received any information,” he told the BBC.

“My friend is so upset because she dreamed of finding her father for 13 years. We were told that many prisoners were moved to another location.”

Dr. Ibesh continued: “Hundreds of people left the prison and we were told we couldn’t get in because there were so many people in the way of the rescuers.”

The Syrian civil defense group White Helmets searched for inmates in Saydnaya after prisoners reported secret entrances to underground cells, but was unable to find any.

A mosque 20 km away is used as a meeting point for released prisoners and their families.

When Ibesh was there on Sunday, he saw several newly released people who appeared to be in a traumatized state, he told the BBC.

A group of people surrounded two men who had just been released and tried to help them.

“(They) had been held in prison for several years and were disoriented,” Ibesh said. “They didn’t even know the time zone.”

“People around her were like, ‘What’s your name?’ and ‘How old are you?’ but they couldn’t even answer those questions.”

It was difficult to tell how old they were, Ibesh said, adding: “The men were completely lost, they were just staring ahead.”

While there have been many family reunions since the prisoners’ release, the search for many others continues.

The BBC also spoke to the mother of a man who was arrested and sent to Saydnaya Prison in 2011. Fayzah Nadaf from Idlib said her son Thaer was arrested when he was 25 and “no one knows the reason for it.”

Fayzah’s other son has traveled to Damascus and is currently searching mosques, hospitals and the Saydnaya prison itself. The family had new hope of seeing Thaer again because a doctor who left the prison two months ago had informed them that he was still there on be life. They assume he is being held in the underground part of the Saydnaya complex.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my son again,” said Fayzah. He has been missing for 12 years and I have prayed the whole time that he could see his children again.

Thear’s 11-year-old son Mustafa told the BBC that his father was arrested when he was a baby.

“I hope he comes back. I swear I miss him, I’ve never heard his voice before,” he said.

The Assad regime has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of political prisoners. The Turkey-based Saydnaya Prison Detainees and Missing Persons Group (ADMSP) described Saydnaya as a “death camp.”

During the civil war that began in 2011, government forces held hundreds of thousands of people in internment camps where torture was commonplace, according to human rights groups.