Adra Prison
 Interactive map of Adra Prison | |
| Location | northeast outskirts of Damascus, Syria |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°35′24″N 36°26′26″E / 33.5901037°N 36.4404945°E |
| Capacity | 2,500 |
| Population | 7,000 (as of 2014) |
| Notable prisoners | |
| Anwar al-Bunni, Bassel Khartabil, Mas'ud Hamid, Haitham al-Maleh | |
Adra Prison (Arabic: سجن عدرا) is a prison in Syria, on the northeast outskirts of Damascus.[1][2] Political prisoners are held in the prison, along with a mixture of civil prisoners such as traffic offenders, murderers, and drug dealers. In 2014, the prison held more than 7,000 inmates, a dozen of them women, in space designed for 2,500.[3][4][5][6][7] The Washington Post referred to the prison as "infamous".[8]
History
[edit]Pre-civil war
[edit]Ghassan Najjar, an engineer who was imprisoned in 1980, reportedly went on two hunger strikes, one to protest conditions in the prison. His fellow inmates said he was beaten so badly by prison guards trying to force him to eat that he suffered spinal injuries.[9]
Mas'ud Hamid, a Kurdish journalism student, was held in solitary confinement in the prison for one year from 2003 to 2004 before he was allowed monthly visits, and Human Rights Watch said that interrogators reportedly tortured him and beat him with a studded whip on the bottom of his feet.[10] His room was 2 by 0.85 metres (6 ft 7 in × 2 ft 9 in), largely filled by a toilet in it.[11]
In December 2004, Kurds in the prison conducted a hunger strike, which was allegedly halted by torture.[12]
Amid civil war
[edit]In March 2011, 13 prisoners at the prison, including 80-year-old former judge Haitham al-Maleh and lawyer Anwar al-Bunni began a hunger strike to protest government oppression and the holding of political prisoners.[13]
On 1 July 2013, female detainees in the prison began hunger strike in response to negligence of their cases by the public prosecution of the Counterterrorism Court, and absence of approval of their respective trials.[14]
As of December 2014, the jail was well beyond its 2,500 person capacity at over 7,000 prisoners of all types of accused offenders, from murderers to traffic violators.[7]
In August[15] and September 2015, Jaysh al-Islam shelled and stormed the prison, taking control of two buildings.[16][17]
Post-regime
[edit]On 7 December 2024, the prison was liberated by the Southern Operations Room during the Fall of Damascus.[18] On 13 December 2024, the United States charged Samir Ousman Alsheikh with human rights abuses during the time that he ran the prison from 2005 to 2008.[19] On 16 March 2026, Samir Alsheikh was found guilty of torture and conspiracy to commit torture during his time as head of the prison.[20][21]
Later on, the prison was used to detain former Syrian government soldiers and officers after the fall of Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported severe overcrowding, poor health conditions, lack of medical care, and ill-treatment of detainees, including humiliation and coerced confessions.[22] In addition, a number of detainees from Suweida Governorate held at the prison since the southern Syria clashes began an open-ended hunger strike in late December 2025 to protest their arbitrary detention and poor humanitarian conditions, demanding their release and access to medical care.[23]
Former prisoners
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Alan George (2003). Syria: neither bread nor freedom. Zed Books. ISBN 9781842772133. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ "Little hope for press freedom on eve of President Assad's second seven-year term". Retrieved 14 June 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Aziz Abu-Hamad, Andrew Whitley (1992). Throwing away the key: indefinite political detention in Syria. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564320872. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ Khaled Yacoub Oweis. "Syrian authorities interrogate 78-year-old dissident". Reuters. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "Syria authorities grill 78-year-old dissident". Kuwait Times. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ "Syria urged to transfer female prisoners". UPI.com. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ a b "Damascus' Adra prison massively overcrowded". Lebanon Daily Star. 29 December 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- ^ Rhonda Roumani (19 January 2006). "Syria Frees 5 Political Activists". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ James A. Paul (1990). Human rights in Syria. Human Rights Watch. p. 61. ISBN 9780929692692. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
Adra Prison.
- ^ Human Rights Watch (2005). Human Rights Watch False Freedom Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ Human Rights Watch (2009). Far from justice: Syria's Supreme State Security Court. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564324344. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ Robert Lowe (January 2006). "The Syrian Kurds: A People Discovered" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ Evans, Dominic. "13 prisoners in hunger strike action". Scotsman. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ Hassoun, Joud; Hashem, Fouad (1 July 2013). "Female detainees begin hunger strike in Adra Prison". Syria Newsdesk. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "Insurgents shell main prison near Syrian capital, killing 10". The Daily Star. 23 August 2015.
- ^ "11 dead in rebel shelling on Damascus: activists". The Daily Star. 12 September 2015. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ "Rebels storm Syria's largest prison near Damascus: monitor". 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015.
- ^ Loveluck, Louisa; Salim, Mustafa (8 December 2024). "As Syria's notorious prisons empty, families search for the missing". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ "US charges ex-head of Syrian prison with torture". France 24. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "Office of Public Affairs | Former Syrian Assad Prison Official Convicted of Torture and Immigration Fraud | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 16 March 2026. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ^ Pettersson, Edvard (16 March 2026). "Former Syrian prison boss convicted of torturing inmates". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 30 March 2026.
- ^ "Disastrous situation | Detainees in Adra prison struggle with wide spread of diseases and inhumane treatment". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 14 December 2025.
- ^ "Sweida detainees begin hunger strike in Adra Prison". Hawar News Agency. 26 December 2025.
