The prisons of the Syrian regime, known as "human slaughterhouses," were not just places of detention but sites of psychological and physical extermination, where the most horrific forms of torture and humiliation were inflicted on innocent men, women, and children. Within the dark walls, human dignity is crushed, and the lives of detainees turn into a daily nightmare, all amidst a disturbing global silence that does not befit the scale of the tragedy.
The suffering of detainees in Syrian regime prisons cannot be expressed in words; these prisons were unlike any others, akin to slaughterhouses where people are slowly killed. There, the most heinous methods of psychological and physical torture were practiced, starting from severe beatings and sleep deprivation to hanging from limbs, electric shocks, and physical assaults.
Dr. Ali Al-Sand noted in his comment on the microblogging site "X" that the regime's dark prisons practice brutality underground, comparing them to the large prison in Gaza, where extermination occurs above ground, affirming that tyranny and occupation are two sides of the same coin, each one feeding off the other.
One of the heart-wrenching scenes is the emergence of female detainees from Assad's prisons, bearing the marks of torture on their bodies and souls, some of them accompanied by their children, as they all suffered together from hunger, fear, and humiliation. The images of women exiting from detention, with signs of shock filling their faces, encapsulate the entire story.
Former MP Dr. Jumaan Al-Harbesh commented on this scene on his "X" account, stating: "The release of chaste Muslim women from the prisons of the tyrant of Sham, along with their children, is a horrific and moving scene. May God curse those who terrorize Muslim women, and may God illuminate the faces of the grandchildren of Khalid ibn al-Walid, the conquering Mujahideen."
These words encapsulate the tragedy in a single image, for women in these prisons endure what men cannot bear, from the humiliation of dignity to the targeting of honor; this makes the crime doubly impactful in its psychological and social effects.
The role of Kuwaiti activists and scholars in denouncing what is happening on "X" has been evident. Sheikh Muhammad Al-Awadi said: "The fall of tyrants and their corrupt, criminal regimes is one of the most joyous news for the souls... the souls of the oppressed who have been crushed by the tyrannical regime that has violated their sanctities and destroyed their lives." These words came to affirm that the downfall of tyrants has been the dream of every oppressed person, especially those who have experienced imprisonment in the jails of the oppressive tyrant, according to Al-Awadi.
Furthermore, preacher Dr. Youssef Al-Sanad linked the return of Syrian refugees and displaced individuals to their homes from which they have been uprooted after a long absence and harsh conditions, to the eventual return of Palestinians to their land one day, to rebuild it with their own hands and to sow hope anew. Nothing remains the same, and just as the Prophet Joseph (peace be upon him) was reunited with his parents after painful separation, the meeting is inevitable, no matter how long the wait. Allah says: "And when they entered upon Joseph, he took his parents to himself and said, 'Enter Egypt, if Allah wills, safe and secure.'" (Joseph: 99).
Meanwhile, preacher Adel Al-Azmi stated: "In a scene that encapsulates oppression and injustice: images are pouring in from Sednaya prison and other secret prisons run by the Assad regime, revealing horrors that are beyond description, and atrocities that expose the false narrative propagated by some politicians and lenient sheikhs who repeat: 'The Syrians were in a better situation before the revolution!' However, these bitter scenes undeniably prove that the revolution was not an arbitrary choice; it was a pressing necessity imposed by the cruelty and brutality of tyranny. The demand for freedom and dignity was not a luxury, but a cry for survival raised by a people who suffered oppression behind closed prison doors, where a person becomes a number without a name and is taken to the dungeons of torture for no other sin than demanding their right to life."
