Riyad Avlar, a former detainee who endured 21 years in Syria’s infamous Sednaya Prison, described the Baath regime as “the most terrible dictatorial regime in our recent history” and expressed joy at its fall.

Avlar, now 48, recounted his harrowing experience of torture and oppression. Arrested at 19 while in Aleppo for language studies, he was accused of spying for Turkey and spent two years in solitary confinement before being sent to Sednaya. His family, unaware of his whereabouts for years, learned of his survival in 2015, and he was released in 2017.

Since then, Avlar has relocated to Gaziantep, Türkiye, and established the Association of Prisoners and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison to aid in locating the missing in Syria.

Fatma Altınbaş – İbrahim Koçyiğit