NewsSyria arrests ex-military official in charge of notorious Sednaya prisonThe official, Akram Salloum al-Abdullah, is accused of executing detainees, and other ‘serious violations’.
The Syrian authorities have announced the arrest of a former military official, Major General Akram Salloum al-Abdullah, who is accused of conducting executions at Sednaya prison. This facility, located near Damascus, has been notorious for severe human…
The Syrian authorities have announced the arrest of a former military official, Major General Akram Salloum al-Abdullah, who is accused of conducting executions at Sednaya prison. This facility, located near Damascus, has been notorious for severe human rights violations.
The arrest was carried out by the counterterrorism branch of Damascus province, as confirmed by the interior ministry on Wednesday. Abdullah held several senior positions, including Commander of the Military Police at the defense ministry between 2014 and 2015. He is accused of committing serious violations against detainees at Sednaya prison during his tenure.
Sednaya prison has been described as a site of severe abuse and has been dubbed a "human slaughterhouse" by Amnesty International. Reports from Amnesty in 2017 revealed widespread practices of murder, torture, enforced disappearance, and extermination since the onset of the Syrian conflict in 2011. These actions have been characterized as crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch corroborated these findings in a 2014 report, documenting mass deaths based on accounts from former detainees.
The Syrian authorities have announced the arrest of a former military official, Major General Akram Salloum al-Abdullah, who is accused of conducting executions at Sednaya prison.
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison estimates that approximately 30,000 individuals were detained from 2011 onwards, with only about 6,000 released. The rest remain missing. The group highlights that Abdullah is the highest-ranking individual arrested in connection with Sednaya.
During Abdullah's leadership, the military police were responsible for the prison, and the period saw numerous executions and acts of torture. These included the establishment of "salt rooms" for storing bodies before their transfer to mass graves.
According to Syria's Civil Defence, the White Helmets, estimates suggest that 50 to 100 people were executed daily within the prison, primarily targeting political prisoners opposed to the al-Assad regime. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports over 200,000 deaths in Syrian prisons, attributed to execution and torture.
Based on reporting by Al Jazeera.
