Amnesty International denounces "human slaughterhouse" of 13 people in Syrian prison.

Radio France Internationale, via Agência Brasil - In a report published this Tuesday (7), the non-governmental organization (NGO) Amnesty International accuses the Syrian government of having hanged 13 people between 2011 and 2015, in a prison near Damascus. The document denounces a "policy of extermination" by the regime of Bashar Al Assad. The information is from Radio France Internationale (RFI).

Titled "Human Slaughterhouse: Hangings and Mass Extermination at Saydnaya Prison," the report is based on interviews with 84 witnesses to the violent incidents at the site, including guards, former inmates, and judges. The human rights NGO was not authorized by the Syrian government to enter the country to investigate the allegations.

According to the document, at least once a week, between 2011 and 2015, groups of up to 50 people were removed from their cells for arbitrary trials, "in the middle of the night, in absolute secrecy." After being beaten, they were hanged. The text reports that throughout the entire process, the detainees "have their eyes blindfolded, they don't know when or how they are going to die, until a rope is tied around their necks."

A former judge who witnessed the executions recounts that people were hanged for "10 to 15 minutes." Most of the victims were civilians, opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, Amnesty International points out. The bodies were reportedly thrown into mass graves on military grounds near Damascus.

Crimes against humanity

In the report, the organization calls on the United Nations (UN) to conduct an investigation to punish what it classifies as "war crimes and crimes against humanity." Amnesty International believes that these abuses continue to this day.

Thousands of prisoners remain detained in the Saydnaya military prison, one of the country's most important detention centers, located 30 kilometers north of Damascus. In addition to a "policy of extermination," the NGO accuses the Syrian government of regularly torturing prisoners, depriving them of water, food, and medical care.

Interviewed by RFI, Nina Walsh, head of the armed conflict sector at Amnesty International in France, reported that the torture sessions and executions take place "on Mondays and Wednesdays, twice a week, in cells in the basement of Saydnaya."

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, more than 310 people have died and millions have been displaced from their homes.