Syrian authorities announced on Friday that they had arrested a former guard at Sednaya Prison, north of the capital Damascus and described by NGOs as a “human slaughterhouse”, on suspicion of participating in executions and transporting the tortured dead under Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said in a statement on its Telegram account that the suspect, identified as Mahmoud Ali Ahmad, was detained in Aleppo province “on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the Prosecutor’s Office” on suspicion of belonging to a “special unit” guarding Sednaya.
He therefore stressed that the man “would have been involved in summary executions, the transfer of bodies of detainees who died from torture to burial in mass graves, and the torture of detainees,” and that he was handed over to the competent authorities for court appearance.
Finally, the Ministry reiterated that it “continues its continued efforts to locate and prosecute all those proven to be involved in the violations to ensure that the full weight of the law is brought to bear on them.”
Sednaya was known as one of the main prisons and centers of torture and executions during the al-Assad regime, which fled the country in early December 2024 following an offensive by jihadists and rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who currently serves as Syria’s interim president.
About The Author
