The Exit of Women from Sednaya Prison: Investigation Reveals the Fabrication of the Narrative and Concealed Theft and Vandalism

This investigation was translated using artificial intelligence,the original language is Arabic

Social media accounts and pages on platforms like Facebook, X, and TikTok, along with several Arabic and international media outlets, such as Syria TV and Al Arabiya, circulated footage, videos, and images documenting the moment women and children were allegedly released from Sednaya Prison since the fall of the regime on December 8, 2023.

The video shows a civilian ordering a group of girls and women to return to their homes, amidst their screams and evident fear on their faces. One woman tells the man, “These girls are in my charge,” which raises doubts about the credibility of the claim that they were in Sednaya Prison.

Refute the claim

Verify-sy conducted an extensive investigation into the circulated footage that allegedly shows the release of women and girls from Sednaya Prison. The investigation revealed that this claim is false. The circulating video hides behind it different details, including a suspected case of theft and vandalism, which necessitates an investigation by the relevant authorities.

The video in question was filmed at the "Dafa" organization, located in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood south of Damascus, which cares for children deprived of family care, and not at Sednaya Prison, which is over 25 kilometers away from the organization.

Fidaa Daqouri, Chairwoman of Dafa Organization:

Fidaa Daqouri clarified to Verify-sy that on the night of the regime’s fall, the organization was attacked by a group of armed civilians with light and medium weapons, who identified themselves as "rebels." They stole buses belonging to the organization, as well as batteries, and forced everyone present to leave the building before leaving the location themselves.

Daqouri added that the attackers didn’t only target the organization; they also attacked a juvenile detention center on the same street and some nearby institutes just before the military operations' management reached Damascus.

The Verify-sy team received a video filmed on Friday, December 27, 2023, at their request, showing the same location as the circulating video, which was falsely claimed to be footage of the release of women prisoners from Sednaya.

Additionally, Verify-sy obtained footage from the center’s cameras, recorded after the return of electricity and the evacuation of all women and girls from the building. These clips clearly show images of the armed individuals who carried out the attack on the center.

Calls for Accountability

Daqouri called on the General Command of the Syrian transitional authorities to investigate the incident and hold those who attacked the center and filmed the video accountable, noting that they impersonated members of the "Military Operations Department" for theft. She emphasized that the misleading spread of this video by media outlets, falsely identifying the location as Sednaya Prison, is unacceptable.

No Women in Sednaya Prison

To verify the videos, images, and stories claiming women and children were in Sednaya Prison, the Verify-sy team contacted Diab Sarya, co-founder and director of the Sednaya Prison Detainees Association. He confirmed that Sednaya is "a military prison designated for holding men only." Sarya pointed out that the detainee files, which were previously under the regime’s control, are now in the hands of civilians, and no files have been found proving that women were detained in Sednaya.

He added that all circulated stories about secret prisons, hidden floors, or coded doors are fabricated and have no basis in reality. He also mentioned that previously published data about the prison’s structure accurately describes its divisions.

The Case of the Elderly Woman Allegedly Released After 40 Years in Sednaya

In the same context, a video went viral claiming it showed an elderly woman being released from Sednaya Prison after 40 years of detention. According to the narratives, the woman was a pharmacist who advised her neighbor against marrying her daughter to an Alawite officer, leading to her imprisonment. Some platforms mentioned her name as "Imane Bawadqji," while others did not reference her name.

Upon researching the name "Imane Bawadqji," it became clear that this is a Syrian pharmacist from Aleppo, not Damascus, who currently resides in Istanbul. She was contacted by the Verify-sy team and confirmed that she had not been aware of her name circulating in the video until they reached out. She expressed her commitment to preventing the spread of misleading information and stated that she would take legal action against the platform that linked her name to the claim.

Imane Bawadqji speculated that the connection between her name and the woman in the video arose due to her sharing the video on her personal account, which she later deleted after receiving multiple comments questioning the veracity of the narrative.

Moreover, the Verify-sy team attempted to reach the elderly woman’s relatives or neighbors shown in the video, but they were unable to identify her name or the location from which she was released. However, the team confirms that the woman was not in Sednaya Prison, as there are no female detainees in the prison. Her health and mental condition, as shown in the video, could not have been managed in such a prison. Additionally, the name circulating is fabricated.

conclusion