Transcript of Hundreds gather in Damascus for Syrian activist's funeral | BBC News

Oh, my boy, my baby, you were only 19, cries a mother who's just found the disfigured body of her teenage son, Ahmed Sultan Idd. Idd, who until today was 1 of tens of 1,000 who disappeared under Bashar Assad's regime. Now his family knows what happened. Ahmed was tortured and killed in prison. Those still searching would give anything to have closure.

I wish I could see my son even if it's his dead body so I can bury him and I will know which way my son is in, this woman says. Her son, Alladeep Allahwad, missing since 2011 when Syria's uprising began. She's come to hospital to search through the bodies brought from Sidnaya prison. This is how she reacted when she saw them. Battered, burnt, emaciated, some not even whole.

The stench here, overwhelming.

What we've seen in the past 1 hour is a steady stream of people coming in here. Mothers having to sort of sift through badly disfigured corpses to just

find some information about their sons.

In 1 corner, there's literally a bag of human bones.

That's what

people are searching through. And when you look at the bodies, there are clear signs of torture. There's 1 body which doesn't have a head.

This is but a glimpse of the scale of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime. Rage can now be expressed by serious people, and it is easily found. Every mother who's lost her son should get revenge from Assad. Putin should give him to us so we can execute him in a square, a woman shouts. Till just a week ago, they feared to even ask where their loved ones are.

Now, everywhere we look, there are people holding up photos, searching for their families. Most will not get answers. If the world had any understanding before this about the brutality of Assad's regime, it was in part because of Mazin al Hamada. His body found in Sidnaya prison returned to his family today. Mazin took part in protests in 2011, was arrested and tortured.

Exiled in 2013, he chose to speak openly about what he endured. He goes on to describe how he was raped and abused. His sister, Lamia, told us why he returned to Syria in 2020 when he was arrested immediately on arrival.

The government told him there was an agreement and he would be safe. They also told him that his family would be arrested and killed if he didn't come to Syria. We are happy the regime fell, but I wish he was alive to see it. He paid the price for our freedom. I want his killers to be brought to court for justice.

We sacrificed our blood and our soul for the revolution. Crowds chanted as they took Mazon's body along the streets of Damascus. This is the freedom he did not live to see.

Less than a week ago, you couldn't talk openly about activists like Mazen Hamada. People whose loved ones were disappeared, they couldn't go and ask about where they were. There is no image that reflects this incredible turn of events in Syria more than this 1, where hundreds of people are able to openly march on the streets for his funeral, calling him a martyr, calling him a hero. And as we've been walking along the streets, more and more people are joining in. 100, 1,000 now.

Everywhere we go, more people joining this march.

Yogi Talamayi, BBC News, Damascus.