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‘I met two prisoners who did not know their own names’
In the hours after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, hundreds have descended on the site which for many most encapsulated his oppressive rule: the Saydnaya prison.
The notorious military complex has been used to detain tens of thousands of people who fell foul of the Syrian government over the decades.
Among those searching for people who have vanished inside its walls was Dr Sharvan Ibesh, chief executive of the aid group Bahar.
He arrived there at midnight to help a friend search for her father, who she believes has been held there for 13 years.
Dr Ibesh described scenes of “chaos”, with hundreds of people inside the prison trying to find their loves ones.
“It was very disappointing. We did not find him and we got no information,” he told the BBC.