When Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024, journalists finally had a chance to better understand the atrocities committed by and under the Assad family’s decades-long rule. Among the most haunting symbols of Assad’s ruthlessness was Sednaya, Syria’s most fearsome prison.
To help readers understand the extent of brutality against those who opposed the regime, The New York Times reconstructed the prison experience.
Under the Assad regime, hundreds of thousands of activists, journalists and dissidents were thrown into Sednaya. According to human rights groups, more than 30,000 prisoners died in the prison — many executed in mass hangings over the course of the civil war. The true death is still unknown.
Times reporters visited Sednaya several times, including the day after the regime fell in December 2024. They surveyed the complex, capturing photos and videos of every corner of the prison, which had become a haunting symbol of the Syrian dictator’s ruthlessness. Using over 130 videos filmed on site as well as hundreds of photos, The Times built a comprehensive 3-D model of the prison.
Reporters also interviewed 16 former prisoners and two former prison officials. They spoke with prisoners’ relatives and a prisoner advocacy group to corroborate the details surrounding their arrests.
The story that emerged is a deeply reported one that took readers into the intimate daily lives that the prisoners endured, from the initial time in dark, underground cells to the crowded group cells, where they were packed in tightly.
Before the regime fell, access to the prison was impossible. But journalists were able to access the site in the days after the regime fell, to collect visual evidence of the conditions.
