People gather as members of the Syrian civil defence group, known as the White Helmets, search for prisoners underground at Sednaya prison, after rebels seized the capital and announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Sednaya, Syria, December 9, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
SEDNAYA, Syria (Reuters) - As families desperately scoured the filthy cells of Syria's forbidding Sednaya prison on Monday for any sign of long-detained relatives after its gates were flung open by rebels, hope for finding missing loved ones began to fade.
Thousands of prisoners spilled out of president Bashar al-Assad's pitiless detention system after he was toppled on Sunday, sometimes to tearful reunions with relatives who believed they had been executed years earlier.
