Former detainee describes daily killings at Syria's Saidnaya prison
Tawfik Sabouni, a filmmaker and ex-inmate, says prisoners were routinely executed at Saidnaya prison to set an example for others.
Saidnaya prison, built in 1987 by Hafez al-Assad, originally housed military personnel before becoming a detention site for political prisoners. During the civil war, the facility was described by Amnesty International as an "abattoir." Sabouni, who survived imprisonment, recounts daily deaths that were often intended as warnings, and sometimes resulted from guard misconduct.
Why it matters
The testimony highlights ongoing human rights abuses in Syrian detention facilities.
In this story
Saidnaya prisondaily killingspolitical prisonershuman rightsguard misconductcivil wartestimony
