EU foreign ministers visit Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison

The foreign ministers from Germany and France visited the notorious Sednaya prison near Damascus on Friday, a symbol of the brutal rule under deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot were shown the prison at the start of their visit to Syria for talks with the transitional government formed by militant groups that drove al-Assad from the country about four weeks ago.

Members of the White Helmets, the Syrian civil defence organization, told the visiting European diplomats about conditions and atrocities committed by the al-Assad regime at the prison, popularly known simply as the “human slaughterhouse.”

Since 2011, human rights activists have documented systematic mass executions, torture and the disappearance of thousands of prisoners there during Syria’s brutal civil war.

Following interviews with ex-prisoners, security guards, judges, lawyers and experts, human rights group Amnesty International came to the conclusion that crimes against humanity were committed in Sednaya under the orders of the al-Assad government.

Executions and torture were already documented during the reign of Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, who died in 2000. Father and son ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than 50 years.

The White Helmets were founded by volunteers in 2013 after the start of the civil war. The approximately 3,000 volunteers helped to rescue victims after airstrikes, but were also deployed after the devastating earthquakes in Syria and Turkey in 2023.