One of the most brutal prisons in the world, called Tadmor Prison, is called “Tadmur” in the local language. Information provided by the BBC and the only documentary made on this prison, Tadmor (2016) – Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim. The Tadmor Military Prison stood in a corner of the desert near the ancient city of Palmira (Palmyra) in Syria. The reason for saying that it existed is that this prison no longer exists, only its ruins remain. Although it looks like an ordinary structure from the outside, it was a hellish world inside. This is where the hellish “The Tadmor Massacre” of history took place. This prison is called—“The most oppressive place on Earth.”
What I found when I looked into history is that an old military base built by the British in 1958 was transformed into Tadmor Prison by the Syrian government in 1966. Although its terrifying chapter began in the 1970s after Hafez al-Assad came to power. It then became a hell for political prisoners, a graveyard for Hafez al-Assad’s political opponents. Not only Syrians but also foreigners were held in this prison.
Anyone who opposed the government was sent here. According to a former prisoner, “Tadmor was not a prison; it was a place where time and mercy died together.” Tadmor’s rules were that prisoners could never look a guard in the eye. Talking was forbidden. They were beaten even while sleeping, as if sleep were part of the punishment. Inside the prison, the floor was slippery with blood.
One surviving prisoner wrote, “It was a blessing to be able to cry there, because everyone’s tears had dried.” Many prisoners were kept alone for weeks after being tortured, in dark rooms, without light or ventilation. When someone died, the body was dragged away— but no one knew where they were being buried. Life in Tadmor Military Prison was like walking through a minefield—where death could strike at any moment. The reason could be torture, the cruelty of the guards, illness, or a sudden execution. I heard a former prisoner describe it in the video, saying— “When it was time to cut our hair, three or four guards would come and shout—‘Kneel down.’
We would kneel down and read. They would shave our heads with an old hand-operated machine. They would hit our heads repeatedly with that machine, causing our heads to bleed. Then they would shave our eyebrows, and finally our eyelids. The most painful thing was when they would pluck out our eyelashes.” These were the regular tortures of the prison. In addition, torture sessions were scheduled for prisoners every Monday and Thursday, and it was equally terrible for the child prisoners. 10 prisoners were hanged at a time on 45 gallows. In 1981, 700 and 400 prisoners died in the prison from cholera and tuberculosis, respectively. In a video on the Syrian portal, a surviving prisoner was quoted as saying, “You have reached your final destination. There is no God here. God is forbidden to enter Tadmor.
"We are God. We give life, we take life.”
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iveThese words extinguished the last glimmer of God and hope in the prisoners’ minds. When some of the prisoners in Tadmor began to speak to the international media after 2001. The world first learned the true nature of this hell. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN Human Rights Council all declared it an “Institutionalized torture chamber.”
Now, let’s talk about “The Tadmor Massacre.” June 27, 1980, was one of the most horrific mornings in Syrian history. On this day, a massacre took place that shook the conscience of not only Syria, but also humanity. It happened on the orders of President Hafez al-Assad and his brother Rifaat al-Assad. This horrific massacre was carried out in retaliation for an attack on the president by a security guard just a day earlier. According to research and eyewitnesses, that day, the president's army entered the prisoners' dormitories directly and opened fire indiscriminately. They also threw grenades and hand grenades. In just a few hours, about 2000 prisoners were killed, including teachers, students, political leaders, journalists and even ordinary citizens. The dead were later buried in mass graves. No one in the outside world knew about this massacre. But in 1981, some Syrian officers who were captured in Jordan confessed to their involvement in the massacre. Only then did the world learn of the horrors of Palmyra.
The prison was officially closed in 2001, The prisoners were transferred to the newly built Sednaya prison. That too was no less horrific than Tadmor. I won’t go into that for now. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, “Tadmor Prison was a living hell. Humanity died here slowly, systematically.”
Their reports say—
The torture at Tadmor Military Prison was not an isolated incident; It was a planned form of state terrorism. In 2015, when ISIS captured the city of Palmyra, they symbolically destroyed Tadmor Prison. Their argument was that it was a symbol of torture. However, even by destroying it, they could not erase the memory. In 2017, some of the surviving prisoners came together to form the “Association of Tadmor Survivors.” They said- “We do not want anyone to forget how a nation was silenced through fear. We have returned from Tadmor alive, so that the world knows that fear can never rule.”
Tadmor Military Prison is not only a dark chapter in the history of Syria, it is a dark chapter in the history of humanity.
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