A Syrian reveals the horrors of Assad’s prison

Days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a Syrian man living in London has revealed the full extent of his horrific detention in one of Syria’s most notorious prisons – Al-Khatib, a place infamous among survivors as “Hell on Earth”. For years, Abdullah Al Nofal had kept the details of his brutal treatment under wraps, but in an emotional moment, he shared the truth with his wife, Douna Haj Ahmed, as they broadcast news about prisoners fleeing regime forces.

The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011 after peaceful protests against Assad’s authoritarian rule, has turned into a devastating conflict that has displaced millions and subjected countless others to the regime’s brutal repression. Al-Khatib prison, located in Damascus, has become a symbol of this cruelty, where thousands of inmates have been tortured, abused and killed by Assad’s security forces.

For Douna, who had lost siblings in the regime’s detention centers, the revelation was deeply painful, but also eye-opening. Although she knew her husband had suffered, she had never heard the full story of what he endured. Abdullah, 36, has always kept his traumatic memories to himself, unwilling to share the horrors of his experience. But as images of prisoners escaping Syria’s clutches were broadcast, Abdullah finally opened up, saying: “This is where I was arrested, this is the place.”

His wife recalled how Abdullah, through tears, said: “I could be one of them. I could be dead.” “I feel like when he saw that, he felt like it (was) closure,” Douna shared with BBC. “Now we want people to hear what Syrians have been through.”

Abdullah’s journey began in July 2013 when he was working as a warehouseman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus. After participating in the initial anti-regime protests in 2011, he distanced himself as the conflict grew more violent and complex. However, his past activism came back to haunt him when he was arrested.

On that fateful day 11 years ago, Abdullah was detained at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus. Blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to a military unit, he was placed in solitary confinement for three days, enduring extreme isolation and brutal beatings.

“It was so dark for three days, I remember,” Abdullah recalled. “I can’t hear a sound. It was so dark. You feel so alone.”

He was eventually transferred to Al-Khatib prison, a facility where thousands of inmates were subjected to unimaginable torture. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, nearly 60,000 people have been tortured or killed in these prisons. “When I started looking around, there were people sitting almost naked,” he says, recalling the constant cycle of suffering and death.

Disease spread, and Abdullah saw many prisoners die from neglect and torture. “If you’re not tortured yourself, every minute they’re going to take someone in for questioning. They’re going to come back to the room covered in blood… every time you touch someone they’re going to scream because you touched their wound.”

In one of his darkest moments, Abdullah was tortured and forced to falsely confess to gun-running charges. “Every minute it felt like you were going to die,” he says of the ordeal. “As long as you say, ‘I didn’t do it,’ they will continue to torture you and take you to another stage of torture,” he says.

After 12 grueling days, he managed to avoid further torture by fabricating a story. “I was lucky to get out alive,” he admitted.

After fleeing Syria, Abdullah and Douna eventually found refuge in London. “We are finally done with the regime. We are truly free now,” Abdullah reflected. “We can tell the whole story.”