Action Group – Aleppo
The Ministry of Interior announced in a statement that the Internal Security Forces in Aleppo Governorate, in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Branch, arrested a person named Hassan Marai Hassan al-Hussein from the village of Talhadiya in the southern Aleppo countryside, on suspicion of involvement in violations committed against detainees during his tenure at Sednaya Prison.
According to the statement, the detainee previously worked within the prison’s special guard unit before assuming duties as a jailer in what is known as the “Red Prison.” The statement indicated that initial investigations indicate his responsibility for practices related to torture and his participation in extrajudicial executions.
The ministry added that the suspect was transferred to the competent judiciary to take legal action against him, stressing that the security operation comes within the framework of monitoring violations against civilians and promoting the principles of justice and the rule of law.
It is noteworthy that Sednaya Military Prison, located north of the capital, Damascus, is one of the most prominent facilities associated with widespread violations since 2011. Local and international human rights organizations have documented the deaths of thousands of detainees inside it as a result of torture, ill-treatment, and lack of medical care.
According to documentation from the Action Group for Palestinians in Syria, hundreds of Palestinian refugees from Syria have died under torture in this prison, including young men arrested from Palestinian camps in Damascus and its countryside. This has made it a symbol of the suffering of detainees and their families, many of whom still do not know the fate of their loved ones as yet.