Defected Syrian soldier recounts horrors of Sednaya prison

In a harrowing episode of “After Assad” on Roya TV, Syrian defector Hisham Nasri shared the chilling details of his imprisonment under the former Syrian regime, from his 2012 arrest to the infamous “cemetery of the living” in Sednaya prison.

Nasri, a married father of two, described how his ordeal began after refusing an order to beat an elderly man during a military patrol, an act of conscience that led to his defection and months in hiding.

Captured by security forces, he was subjected to extreme torture in multiple detention branches. Blindfolded and beaten, Nasri endured the notorious “balanco” technique, nearly drowning as his legs were tied and his head submerged in water.

His suffering escalated in Sednaya Prison, where he described men crying without shedding tears, and even minor complaints, like dental pain, resulting in further beatings. The most shocking part of his testimony came from Tishreen Military Hospital, where he was forced to handle nearly 120 corpses, stripping and shrouding them into body bags.

“All I could think about was that I would soon be inside one of these bags,” he said.

Released unexpectedly by the military judiciary, Nasri returned to his unit a changed man. His family struggled to recognize him, and years later, he lost his young son to a medical error, able to visit only a handful of times due to fear of re-arrest.

Reflecting on his liberation, Nasri fell to the ground and wept, delivering a final message to those responsible for his suffering, “May God never forgive them.”