Inside Syria’s secret human slaughterhouse

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — Around 13,000 people were secretly tortured and executed by the Syrian government at a military jail near Damascus between 2011 and 2015, according to human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Blindfolded prisoners were brought after midnight to the “white building” of the Saydnaya prison, where they would be hanged in two execution rooms located in the basement, an Amnesty report says.

The prisoners were only given one or two-minute hearings at a military field court before their executions, according to Amnesty.

Amnesty conducted first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses, including prison guards, officials, detainees, judges and lawyers. The human rights watchdog said there are strong reasons to believe that the slaughter at Saydnaya prison is continuing today.