“I wish he had lived to see the new Syria”: Crowds bury anti-Assad activist

Warning: This article contains graphic details of torture

The crowds chanted: “Our blood and our souls are redemption for the revolution,” as they carried Mazen Al-Hamada’s coffin through the streets of Damascus, wrapped in the green, white and black flag that demonstrators adopted in 2011, and which is now ubiquitous in the city. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

As the funeral procession progressed, more and more people joined it. “Mazen is a martyr,” many shouted, some crying.

If the world knew before then how brutal the Assad regime was against its own people, it was partly because of Mazen, an activist who was an outspoken critic of the regime.

On Sunday, his body was found in the notorious “slaughterhouse” in Saydnaya prison in Damascus. She bore signs of horrific torture.

The doctor who examined him told the BBC that Mazen was suffering from fractures, burn marks, and bruises all over his body, allegations confirmed by Mazen’s family.

His sister Lamia said: “It is impossible to count the wounds on his body. His face was smashed and his nose was broken.”

Mazen Al-Hamada was one of the demonstrators when the uprising began in Syria in 2011, and he was arrested and tortured. He was released in 2013 and was granted asylum in the Netherlands. He began to speak frankly about what he had been exposed to in prison.

In the documentary “Disappeared in Syria” produced by Afshar Films, Mazen describes how he was raped, had his genitals clamped, and had his ribs broken when a guard repeatedly jumped on his chest.

While in the asylum, Jad Al-Hamada, Mazen's nephew, says he began to suffer from severe depression and other mental health problems. During this time, he was seen in a video claiming to have been threatened by members of the Kurdish ethnic minority in Syria, and called for violence against them in response. His family says he was not of sound mind at the time.

In 2020, he decided to return to Syria.

“The government told him that he had reached an agreement and that he would be safe,” Lamia said. “He was also told that his family would be arrested and killed if he did not return.”

He was arrested upon his arrival in the country. His family believes he was killed after rebels seized Hama last week, shortly before the fall of the regime.

Lamia said: “I am happy that we are free, but I wish he had lived to see it. He paid the price for our freedom.”

Mazen's story is just a small glimpse into the atrocities committed by the Assad regime. More than 100,000 people disappeared under his rule, most of whom are believed to have died. Now their families are searching for their bodies.

At the Damascus hospital, bodies brought from Saydnaya were placed in the morgue, and when space ran out, the most decomposed bodies were kept in a shed-like structure outside. The stench was overwhelming.

One body was decapitated. The others showed signs of severe torture.

In one corner, there was a plastic bag containing a human skull and bones. Families were searching it to identify their loved ones.

The mutilated body of Ahmed Sultan Eid, 19, was identified by his mother and brother. His mother almost collapsed after she saw this, so the nurses took her to the emergency room.

“My boy, my child, you were only 19,” she cried. “There's nothing left for us anymore.”

Ahmed's brother leaned his face against the wall and cried.

All around us, people were uploading photos of loved ones they were looking for.

“I couldn't find anything. How can you find anything if you're looking through skeletons?” said Mustafa Khair Al-Inam, an elderly man who came to search for his two sons, Omar and Muhammad, who disappeared in 2011.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Al-Masry came to look for his brother Khalil.

“Until now we were not allowed to ask where our loved ones were, otherwise we would be arrested. Can you imagine our feelings? They didn’t do anything, and so they left. Maybe they are in a mass grave somewhere.” He said: “Living in the forest is better than living in Syria.”

Grief and anger – which could not be expressed publicly until just a week ago – were pouring out.

One woman shouted loudly: “Every mother looking for her son should take revenge on the lion. Putin should not give him sanctuary. He should return the lion so we can execute him in a public square.”

Lamia asked Mazen's sister what justice she wanted for her brother.

“The perpetrators of the crimes have all fled. But I want them back so we can get justice in a court of law.”

Additional reporting by Aamir Pirzada, Sanjay Ganguly and Lin Al-Saadi