Transcript of The 'iron press': How the Assad regime tortured its victims to death - then crushed their bodies

On a hilltop on the outskirts of Damascus, the scale of Assad's most notorious prison became clear. Tens of thousands of people were held at the Sednaya prison, known by locals as the human slaughterhouse. Amongst the crowds, we met 3 women, returning to the place where their sons and brothers were murdered.

Everyone will die, but why should my son die, tortured in their hands? Why? He suffered a lot. Every time he used to tell me, I'd rather die than be tortured under their hand. But they've got him, and they tortured him to death.

Why have you come here today? What are you looking for here?

I'm still hoping to find him. We will keep on searching for him. If not here, then in Hamas in Latvia, even under the ground. We will keep on searching. They have to respect us to give us the body at least.

We entered the prison, stepping over discarded blankets. The stench overpowering. The detainees, those who spoke out against the regime, were tortured, electrocuted, sexually assaulted, and buried alive.

We found what we're being told is a torture chamber. The doors are quite heavy, and they appear to be soundproof. And then there seems to be a purpose built controlling facility. And I'm told that, in Arabic, it says gas, air, heat, cold air. So it clearly just shows the kind of torture that they wanted to inflict on the people that they, brought in here.

For those whose loved ones were detained here, there is only sadness and anger. Judy, what are you thinking

when you when you see this and and to think that your brother was kept here?

Screaming. I can't believe, my brother died here, and we didn't know anything about him.

And you look at the conditions here, and you you think your brother spent night after night in this condition

being captured. I can't believe I can't imagine what he he was feeling what what he was feeling here in this place, in this miserable place.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. They're just not human.

There is animal.

They're animals. They don't have any humanity. After the rebels opened the doors to the cells, they uncovered brutality of a medieval nature.

And this is the infamous crushing machine. I'm told that people were put into this machine, and then they were essentially crushed crushed to death. Sometimes they would bring dead bodies here and

crush them to dispose of

their bodies. Absolutely horrifying, to see this machine here.

This is a nation traumatized by years of brutal dictatorship at the hands of the Assad regime. He and his henchmen may now be gone, but the pain and suffering they inflicted on the Syrian people remains. For now, families continue to search for the lost.