By Ömer Koparan and Zeynep Katre Oran
DAMASCUS (AA) - Relatives of those who were detained in the prisons of Syria’s toppled Bashar al-Assad regime attempted to identify their loved ones Wednesday through photos displayed on the walls of Al-Mujtahid Hospital in southern Damascus.
They also searched for them in the morgue, where bodies bearing signs of torture are kept.
Approximately 40 bodies stacked in bags and bearing marks of torture were recently transferred from the morgue of Harasta Military Hospital to Al-Mujtahid Hospital for autopsy procedures.
It is believed that those who died under torture were recently brought to the hospital.
-'Photos are unbearable to look at'
Muhammad Halaf, a resident of Hama province, told Anadolu he has not heard from his brother since 2014.
Noting that after the fall of the Assad regime he went to Sednaya Prison, which was known as a “slaughterhouse” under Assad’s rule, he said: "I stayed there for two days. They said there are different underground rooms. We waited for the Syrian Civil Defense teams to find them, but no traces were discovered."
He said his brother's name was not on the list from Sednaya or among the survivors of the prison.
He came to Damascus to determine whether his brother was among the bodies at Al-Mujtahid Hospital.
Halaf said he could not find his brother among the photos displayed on the hospital's walls.
"There are photos for identification purposes on the walls. One person's eyes have been gouged out. Others have been severely tortured. The photos are unbearable to look at. I wish they had just died and not endured this suffering," he added.
Despite the harrowing ordeal, Halaf vowed to continue searching for his brother.