French newspaper Libération has described the network of prisons run under the former Assad regime as one of the largest and most systematic killing operations of the 21st century, revealing the scale of abuses committed against detainees in Syria.
In an investigative report published on its website, the paper detailed discoveries made after the fall of the former regime, when access was granted to detention centers that had long symbolized fear and repression. The report described a “system of intimidation and extermination” that amounted to an organized campaign of mass violence.
Libération said its correspondent, Arthur Sarradin, was among the first journalists to enter the facilities alongside thousands of Syrians searching for missing relatives. His observations and interviews with survivors and families of the disappeared were documented in his book “A Name in the Shadows.” The work recounts the conditions inside the regime’s prisons, including accounts of torture, killings, and mass graves.
According to the report, detention centers under the former regime were a principal tool of control, where systematic torture, humiliation, and arbitrary detention were used to subdue the population. The paper noted that the Saydnaya Prison became a symbol of brutality for many Syrians and observers around the world.
The newspaper added that the former regime operated hundreds of prisons and secret detention centers across Syria, where widespread violations occurred, including sexual violence and torture resulting in the deaths of women and children.
Testimonies from survivors and families of the disappeared, supported by journalistic investigations, are now contributing to broader efforts to uncover the truth and ensure accountability in post-war Syria. What once happened behind closed doors, Libération wrote, has become part of a collective memory demanding justice.
The report also noted that on May 17, President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a decree establishing the National Commission for the Missing, an independent body tasked with uncovering the fate of thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared Syrians, and providing legal and humanitarian support to their families.
