(17 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++PLEASE NOTE EDIT CONTAINS EXPLETIVE GESTURE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 16 December 2024
1. Various of UN Convoy arriving at Saydnaya prison
2. Various of UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen entering prison
3. Various of Pedersen entering prison cells
4. Pedersen listening to a relative of missing prisoner, UPSOUND (Arabic) “We hope, if possible, you help us with equipment to reveal underground tunnels and cellars.”
5. Pedersen being shown around prison
6.Pedersen listening to relatives of missing prisoners
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, UN Envoy to Syria:
“We all have been shattered and I think we are at a loss for words about what happened here. I have now talked to some of the prisoners, some of the detainees, some of the families, some of the grandchildren of those who were killed here. We have seen some who have survived. I think it’s been unspeakable the horrors that they went through. So, I just want in this way to be able to express, you know, of respect and pay homage to all the victims, I’m trying to all those who are missing still, to all those who were detained, to all those who are imprisoned, to all those who survived. And then, of course, to all the families, because there are so many families across Syria that have gone through this unspeakable horror. And we need now to give them whatever we can of support from all practical levels. And hopefully what we are seeing here is now a closed chapter in Syria’s history and nothing like this should be repeated anywhere on the globe. Not in Syria, not anywhere else.”
7. Various of a relative of missing prisoner shouting and hitting Pedersen convoy with shoe, UPSOUND (Arabic) "Shameless" ++EXPLETIVE GESTURE++
STORYLINE:
The UN special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen paid homage to the victims of Assad’s regime as he visited a notorious military prison near Damascus on Monday.
Pedersen met with former inmates and relatives of missing prisoners outside Saydnaya, located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) outside the capital and a long known as “the slaughterhouse.”
Islamist rebels freed dozens of people from the detention facility last week when Damascus fell. Since then, almost no one has been found.
Thousands of people travelled to Saydnaya to look for signs of their loved ones who they believed were still held there. Many still believe their relatives are kept in underground dungeons.
One former prisoner and relative of a missing inmate asked Pedersen if the United Nations could help by providing equipment to “to reveal underground tunnels and cellars.”
Pedersen told reporters at the end of his visit, “there are so many families across Syria that have gone through this unspeakable horror and we need now to give them whatever we can of support from all practical levels."
The UN envoy added “nothing like this should be repeated anywhere on the globe. Not in Syria, not anywhere else.”
In 2017, Amnesty International estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 people were being held in Saydnaya at the time “from every sector of society.”
It said they were effectively slated for “extermination.”
Thousands were killed in frequent mass executions, Amnesty reported, citing testimony from freed prisoners and prison officials.
Prisoners were subjected to constant torture, intense beatings and rape.
AP Video shot by Omar Al Bam
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