A year after Assad’s fall, Syrians struggle to heal

A year ago, Mohammad Marwan found himself stumbling, barefoot and dazed, out of Syria's notorious Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus as rebel forces pushing toward the capital threw open its doors to release the prisoners.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

Arrested in 2018 for fleeing compulsory military service, the father of three had cycled through four other lockups before landing in Saydnaya, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that became synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the rule of now ousted President Bashar Assad.

He recalled guards waiting to welcome new prisoners with a gauntlet of beatings and electric shocks. “They said, You have no rights here, and we're not calling an ambulance unless we have a dead body,” Marwan said. His Dec. 8, 2024 homecoming to a house full of relatives and friends in his village in Homs province was joyful.