Inside Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison dubbed the ‘human slaughterhouse’
Inside Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison, dubbed the “human slaughterhouse”, Sky News saw the conditions that people were kept in until the fall of the Assad regime.
Sky News lead world presenter Yalda Hakim went inside the infamous facility and walked the halls once stalked by Bashar al Assad’s enforcers.
Human rights groups have reported on the site north of Damascus for years, warning of what has been going on.
But until rebel forces stormed the Syrian capital earlier this month, leading to the prisoners walking free, it was impossible for journalists to freely go inside.
Now, thousands of Syrians have flocked to the site this week in search of loved ones who went missing, and Hakim has reported on what she’s seen in the halls and cells of the prison.
Syrians walking through the halls of the prison
‘Bags of faeces and urine’
“There are almost two dozen prisons scattered across this country, but this is the one that really is linked to just the brutality and torture of this regime,” Hakim said, speaking outside the facility near the capital Damascus.
“I was walking earlier from cell to cell, and I could just see the horrifying conditions that people were kept in.
“They had plastic bags full of faeces and urine because people weren’t able to go to the bathroom – if they were allowed to go to a handful of toilets here, they were only given a few seconds, so they were relieving themselves and dumping the plastic bags in the corner of the cells.”
Walking past nooses, she added that prisoners were detained, tortured and sometimes even executed inside.
One of the people who went to the prison in search of relatives holds a noose.
Pic: Reuters
Thousands of Syrians have flooded to the prison to search for relatives
“Apparently, every day, 50 people were brought out and told that they were going to be taken to some kind of civilian prison when they were brought out here to be hung,” she added.
‘Crushing machine’
Heading into one area they were told was a torture chamber, Hakim said it appeared to have been sound-proofed and had a fan installed – possibly to distribute cold air, gas, or heat into the room.
Afterwards, she reported from next to an alleged “crushing machine” which prisoners were said to have been forced into and crushed to death.
Inside the Sednaya prison
Walking around the outside of the prison, she said: “There were rumours that Assad’s guards had created a labyrinth of tunnels where they had buried some of the prisoners deep beneath the ground.
“As you walk around the outside of the prisons you see holes everywhere where people have tried to dig the ground up to see if they could find anyone.”
👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈
‘Forgotten who they were’
Some inmates put into solitary confinement were said to have forgotten who they were.
“When the rebels came and took over this prison, they said that people couldn’t even remember who they were,” Hakim added.
The Sednaya prison.
Pic: Reuters
“They couldn’t remember their names when they went into these prisons, the prison guards told them that they were a number, not a name.
“So many people had even forgotten who they were because they’d been kept in there for so long.”
She continued: “They were tortured. They were brutalised. They were sexually assaulted and abused. They were electrocuted.”
While human rights groups have said they want to preserve the prison’s documents to maintain evidence of what went on inside, Hakim said that the families who rushed here have gone through and taken them all “because they want to find out if their loved ones were actually at this very notorious prison”.
World
Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Read more: What’s a bear market?
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Do Trump’s tariffs add up?
Read more:
Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
World
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Read more from Sky News:
Highs and lows of Five-Year Keir
MP tells Sky News she was targeted online by Tate brothers
The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway