Bashar Barhoum, 63, was one of many tens of 1000’s of prisoners free of Bashar al-Assad’s prisons in Syria, as civil defence groups examine underground cells to free extra detainees.

After seven months in jail, Mr Barhoum was anticipating to be executed, when when he woke in his Damascus jail cell at daybreak Sunday to males on the door.

However he rapidly realised they had been in search of to free him and weren’t Assad’s infamous safety forces.

Rebels broke into prisons and safety amenities to free political prisoners – and individuals who disappeared – within the years since civil warfare erupted in 2011, as they swept throughout Syria in a lightning offensive that ended fifty years of Assad household rule.

Movies shared on social media confirmed dozens of prisoners working in celebration after the rebels launched them, some barefoot and others sporting little clothes. One among them screams in celebration after he finds out that the federal government has fallen.

“I haven’t seen the solar till as we speak,” Mr Barhoum instructed the Related Press earlier than he set off to discover a solution to inform his spouse and daughters that he’s alive and nicely.

“As an alternative of being useless tomorrow, thank God, he gave me a brand new lease of life.”

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Assad’s prisons garnered an notorious status for his or her harsh circumstances. Human rights teams, whistleblowers and former detainees reported systematic torture, secret executions, illness and hunger. The Assad regime all the time denied this, however In 2013 a defector referred to as Caesar smuggled out 53,000 photographs.

“Don’t be afraid — Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?” mentioned one of many rebels as he tried to hurry streams of ladies out of tiny cells of the infamous Saydnaya jail in Damascus.

Described by Amnesty Worldwide as a “human slaughterhouse”, an estimated 13,000 Syrians had been killed in Saydnaya jail between 2011 and 2016, with dozens killed each week.

Assad’s safety equipment and prisons served to isolate his opponents and instill concern amongst his personal individuals, in line with Lina Khatib of London suppose tank Chatham Home.

“Nervousness about being thrown in considered one of Assad’s infamous prisons created extensive distrust amongst Syrians,” Ms Khatib mentioned. “Assad nurtured this tradition of concern to take care of management and crush political opposition.”

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In addition to Damascus, the rebels freed prisoners in Aleppo, Homs and Hama, as households wept, ready exterior prisons hoping to be reunited with their family members.

However some households are nonetheless in search of out kin who’ve been lacking for years.

“This happiness won’t be accomplished till I can see my son out of jail and know the place he’s,” Bassam Masri instructed the Related Press. “I’ve been looking for him for 2 hours. He has been detained for 13 years,” for the reason that begin of the Syrian rebellion in 2011.

Simply north of Damascus within the Saydnaya army jail, referred to as the “human slaughterhouse,” ladies detainees, some with their youngsters, screamed as males broke the locks off their cell doorways. Amnesty Worldwide and different teams say that dozens of individuals had been secretly executed each week in Saydnaya, estimating that as much as 13,000 Syrians had been killed between 2011 and 2016.

The Syrian White Helmets organisation mentioned it had dispatched emergency groups to entry the “decrease layers” of the cells, however to date they haven’t discovered any hidden cells.

“The groups include search and rescue models, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, educated canine models, and medical responders,” the group mentioned.

One other marketing campaign group, the Affiliation for Detainees and the Lacking in Sednaya Jail (ADMSP), mentioned the jail was now empty.

Removed from his house in Syria, Omar Alshogre, who was detained in a Syrian jail for 3 years – and now splits his time between the USA and Sweden as a human rights activist – watched in awe as movies confirmed dozens of detainees fleeing. .

“100 democracies on this planet had accomplished nothing to assist them, and now just a few army teams got here down and broke open jail after jail,” he mentioned.