Searching for missing persons in Syria – The New York Times

Taher Al-Zein comes to this hospital in the Syrian capital in search of his father, Muhammad. The lawyer and father of five disappeared 12 years ago, one of tens of thousands of Syrians who went missing during the country’s civil war. Thousands of political prisoners have been released across Syria since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8. Ahmed Abu Saif was one of them. As the bodies of those who died in prison are recovered, they are transferred to hospitals across the country. Taher examines the pictures of the deceased on the wall, looking for a sign of his father. Among the crowd are supporters of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that now controls much of the country. Al-Taher’s last stop is the notorious Sednaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus. It is believed that thousands of people were executed and tortured here over the years. Tahir and others come every day to search for evidence of their missing loved ones in scraps of prison documents left behind by the previous government. As Syria enters a new and uncertain phase, families of the disappeared feel trapped in the past. Without answers, they continue searching for their loved ones and for a solution to the problem.