Ahmed Hussein (a pseudonym), age 25, whose skull was injured during torture sessions in detention, was staying with relatives in Northeast Syria on January 24, 2026. PHILÉMON BARBIER/HORS FORMAT FOR LE MONDE
Sitting in a circle in the garden of the Hussein family home (Hussein is a pseudonym) in a village in Deir Ezzor province, neighbors and relatives gathered to see a man they thought was lost. After six years in Al-Kam Al-Sini prison, on the outskirts of Al-Chaddadeh in Hassakeh province, Ahmed Hussein, age 25, escaped on January 18. He took advantage of the chaos surrounding the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), from the prison, as government forces advanced with the support of an uprising by local Arab tribes.
Hussein can hardly believe he survived the hellish ordeal that was Al-Kam Al-Sini prison. In a 2024 report, the human rights organization Amnesty International documented numerous instances of torture, abuse and disease in this prison, which was administered by the SDF in Northeast Syria. “There, all I thought about was death. I was convinced I would die a slow death,” he said. “We were tortured with metal rods. I have a scar on my skull from that. They broke my nose with the butt of a Kalashnikov. They tied our hands to a car and dragged us behind it.”
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