Christina Goldbaum

Taking photos of them and then posting them on Telegram so that families could look through and see if they recognized any of these corpses. The doctors believed that some of those people had died days earlier, but there were others that they thought had been dead for weeks or a month.

Taking photos of them and then posting them on Telegram so that families could look through and see if they recognized any of these corpses. The doctors believed that some of those people had died days earlier, but there were others that they thought had been dead for weeks or a month.

And you could smell that as they opened the kind of tarps and informal body bags they had, but this just stench that filled the room. tons of people started coming there, determined to get a look at these bodies themselves.

And you could smell that as they opened the kind of tarps and informal body bags they had, but this just stench that filled the room. tons of people started coming there, determined to get a look at these bodies themselves.

There were just throngs of women and men who were just shoving and trying to get into the examination room itself, saying that they didn't recognize any of the photos and they wanted to see the bodies themselves. And at one point as the day dragged on, one of the doctors just kind of gave up and said, okay, fine, if you want to see these people come in, open the doors.

There were just throngs of women and men who were just shoving and trying to get into the examination room itself, saying that they didn't recognize any of the photos and they wanted to see the bodies themselves. And at one point as the day dragged on, one of the doctors just kind of gave up and said, okay, fine, if you want to see these people come in, open the doors.

And this massive crowd of people came into this refrigerator room and started opening the tarps of bodies and looking at them in just this kind of horror. Some of them had shown signs of what looked to be torture. There were red marks around one of the necks of one of these bodies.

And this massive crowd of people came into this refrigerator room and started opening the tarps of bodies and looking at them in just this kind of horror. Some of them had shown signs of what looked to be torture. There were red marks around one of the necks of one of these bodies.

Another had kind of puncture wounds that one of the doctors thought were from a hot iron that this person had likely been hit with many times. One of these bodies didn't have a face anymore. It was just this charred skull, just beyond recognition. It was incredibly intense. I mean, women were leaving that room in tears and screaming and cursing Assad and asking that he burn in hell.

Another had kind of puncture wounds that one of the doctors thought were from a hot iron that this person had likely been hit with many times. One of these bodies didn't have a face anymore. It was just this charred skull, just beyond recognition. It was incredibly intense. I mean, women were leaving that room in tears and screaming and cursing Assad and asking that he burn in hell.

You know, until that point, I think people had really believed that there was a way of finding folks alive, that there were some secret rooms or some other detention facility or, you know, somewhere where they'd be broken free from. And I think it's one thing to see the scribblings on the wall of this really grim prison.

You know, until that point, I think people had really believed that there was a way of finding folks alive, that there were some secret rooms or some other detention facility or, you know, somewhere where they'd be broken free from. And I think it's one thing to see the scribblings on the wall of this really grim prison.

It's another to see not just that people might have died, but how they died and what they endured before they died. No! No! No! But we did meet one family at the prison that day who got some answers. Their son had been released from Sinai when the rebels took the city. And so he was able to tell us the story of life inside the prison for the first time.

It's another to see not just that people might have died, but how they died and what they endured before they died. No! No! No! But we did meet one family at the prison that day who got some answers. Their son had been released from Sinai when the rebels took the city. And so he was able to tell us the story of life inside the prison for the first time.

Thank you so much for having us in your house. So his name is Bilal Shahadi. He's 26 years old. And we met him at his house, me and my colleague, Reha Morshed, who's translating, and walked in and sat down on the floor of their living room. There was a small heater there too, because it was a pretty cold day.

Thank you so much for having us in your house. So his name is Bilal Shahadi. He's 26 years old. And we met him at his house, me and my colleague, Reha Morshed, who's translating, and walked in and sat down on the floor of their living room. There was a small heater there too, because it was a pretty cold day.

And he was telling us about how he had grown up in the suburb of the city with a pretty big family. He's one of four brothers and a number of sisters, too. His dad worked selling fresh water to people in the neighborhood.

And he was telling us about how he had grown up in the suburb of the city with a pretty big family. He's one of four brothers and a number of sisters, too. His dad worked selling fresh water to people in the neighborhood.

And, you know, he remembers when he was younger going to these amusement parks in Damascus with his siblings and going swimming and having barbecues on the hillside and this life that felt very peaceful and full of promise for him and his family.

And, you know, he remembers when he was younger going to these amusement parks in Damascus with his siblings and going swimming and having barbecues on the hillside and this life that felt very peaceful and full of promise for him and his family.