Hope and despair in Assad's 'human slaughterhouse'

Race to free prisoners of brutal regime tortured in underground prison

- William Christou

The celebrations in Damascus were interrupted by a whisper. On the outskirts of the city, a door had been found.

Beyond it lay a vast underground complex, five storeys deep, containing the last prisoners of the Assad regime, who were gasping for air.

Cars raced towards Sednaya prison, locally known as "the human slaughterhouse", the most notorious torture complex of the Syrian government's vast network of detention centres.

The Guardian followed as traffic came to a standstill and rumours were passed between lowered windows: about 1,500 prisoners trapped underground needed rescuing; perhaps your loved ones were among them. Cars were then ditched by the roadside and people began to walk.

A procession lit by thousands of phone torches streamed through the prison complex gates, which until rebels took control of the facility earlier on Sunday, had guaranteed entry but not exit.

Families huddled around fires in the prison grounds to keep warm, while keeping an eye on the prison doors to see if they could recognise any faces coming out.

Rebel fighters tried to stop people entering the prison itself, firing rounds in the air - but the crowd surged forward undeterred.

Inside, people roved about the labyrinthine facility, moving from cell to cell, searching for any clue that could tell them where their relatives and friends might be.

They were racing to locate the hidden underground wing - which they called the "red wing" - amid fears prisoners were starving without food and asphyxiating from lack of air.

"There are three in my family missing," said Ahmad al-Shnein as he searched the prison corridor.

"They told us that there are four levels underground, and that people are choking inside - but we don't know where it is.