Syria: Freed Saydnaya prisoners ‘did not know their names’

When Ibesh visited there on Sunday, he saw several newly freed people clearly in a traumatised state, he told the BBC.

A group of people surrounded two men who had just been released, trying to help them.

“[They] had been held in the prison for several years and they were disorientated,” Ibesh said. “They didn’t even know the time zone.”

“People around them were asking ‘what’s your name’ and ‘how old are you?’, but they could not even answer those questions.”

It was hard to tell how old they were from looking at them, Ibesh said, adding: “The men were totally lost, they were just staring ahead.”

While there have been many family reunions since the prisoners were released, the search continues for many others.

The BBC has also spoken to the mother of a man who was arrested and taken to Saydnaya prison in 2011. Fayzah Nadaf from Idlib said her son Thaer was arrested when he was 25, and “nobody knows the reason why”.

Fayzah’s other son has travelled to Damascus and is currently searching in mosques, hospitals and the Saydnaya prison itself. The family had renewed hope that they would see Thaer again because a doctor who had left the prison two months ago informed them that he was still alive. They believe he is being held in the underground section of the Saydnaya complex.

“I am looking forward to seeing my son again,” Fayzah said. He has been missing for 12 years, and all the time I prayed that he could see his children again”

Thear’s 11yr-old son Mustafa told the BBC that his father was arrested when he was just a baby.

“I hope he comes back. I swear I miss him, I have never heard his voice,” he said.