Parliament delegation to visit notorious Syria prison

ANKARA

A delegation from the Turkish parliament will visit the notorious Saydnaya prison in Syria on Dec. 30, following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's government.

"Time is passing and evidence is disappearing. We need to see, sort and archive this evidence so that we can pursue the legality of this," Mustafa Alkayış, a member of the parliament's human rights investigation commission, told state-run Anadolu Agency on Dec. 26.

The delegation will include members of the commission and 20 other deputies from several parties in parliament, said Alkayış, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker.

"In this way, we want to show the whole world in the clearest way possible how human rights and law are being violated here," he said. "We will be instrumental in starting a process to get justice for these people whose dignity has been violated, no matter who they are, what their faith or sect is."

The visit will be organized by Türkiye's Foreign Ministry and National Intelligence Organization (MİT), he informed.

The notorious Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomized the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of the conflict.

Syria’s prisons under the rule of Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, were infamous for their harsh conditions. Human rights groups and former detainees say torture was systemic. Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.

In 2017, Amnesty International estimated that 10,000-20,000 people were being held in Saydnaya "from every sector of society." It said they were effectively slated for "extermination."