Baladi News – (Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa)
Since the mutiny in Hamah prison started more than one week ago, the regime forces as well as its allied thugs have pulled their punch in dealing with this issue. Reminding of the massacre against Sednaya prisoners in 2008, observers indicate that the regime, which has never been so lenient on an insurgency in one of its prisons, wants to send some political messages.
“The release of detainees” was one of the most prominent demands of the Syrian opposition in Geneva negotiations. In addition, human rights organizations have objections on the inhuman treatment of the detainees in the regime prisons. These two factors give the impression that allowing media coverage of the case is not a coincidence, but an attempt by the regime to show off its “good” treatment of detainees.
In this regard, the activists of “Syrian Reporter” on Facebook indicated that the regime intentionally filmed the “legal” storming of the prison using rubber bullets and tear gas to deny thousands of the opposition media stories about torturing and killing prisoners.
Before suspending Geneva negotiations, Staffan de Mistura, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, had agreed with Russia and the US to open the file of the detainees in the Syrian regime prisons, but the regime itself opened it for media one week ago by allowing access to the internet and turning a blind eye to the leakage of some videos from inside the prison, which suggests that the regime is seeking to achieve political gains through this tolerance.
Hama prison started last Monday after storming the ward of political detainees who had participated in the peaceful protests in the beginning of the Syrian revolution. After negotiations between the regime and the prisoners, which were mediated by “The Syrian Arab Red crescent”, “National Reconciliation Committee”, and public and religious figures, 46 detainees of the so-called “anti-terrorism court” were released.