Detainees Trapped Underground At Notorious Syrian Prison

The Syrian civil defence group known as the White Helmets says it is investigating reports from survivors of the country’s notorious Saydnaya prison that people are being detained in hidden underground cells.

Writing on X, the group says it has deployed five “specialised emergency teams” to the prison, who are being helped by a guide familiar with the prison’s layout.

Saydnaya is one of the prisons to have been liberated as rebels took control of the country.

Authorities in Damascus province reported that efforts were continuing to free prisoners, some of whom were “almost choking to death” from lack of ventilation.

The Damascus Countryside Governorate has appealed on social media to former soldiers and prison workers in Bashar al-Assad’s regime to provide the rebel forces with the codes to electronic underground doors.

They say they have been unable to open them in order to free “more than 100,000 detainees who can be seen on CCTV monitors”.

BBC