– Abd al-Salam al-Hamwi, Verify-Sy –
The Claim
Accounts and pages on social media platforms, including Facebook, X and TikTok, as well as numerous Arab and international media outlets such as Syria TV and Al Arabiya, have circulated footage, videos and images documenting the moment women and children were released from Sednaya Prison following the fall of the regime on December 8 of this year.
The video shows a civilian man ordering a group of girls and women to return to their homes, amidst their screams and visible fear on their faces. In the footage, a woman is heard telling the man, “These girls are under my care,” raising doubts about the credibility of the claim that they were held in Sednaya Prison.
Refuting the Claim
The Verify-Sy platform team conducted an extensive investigation to verify the authenticity of the footage purportedly showing the release of dozens of women and girls from Sednaya Prison. It was found to be false, and the circulated video conceals different details involving allegations of theft and vandalism, which require investigation by the relevant authorities.
It was revealed that the video in question was filmed at the “Dafa” Association, located in the Bab Musalla neighbourhood, which provides care for children deprived of family support. It was not filmed at Sednaya Prison, which is more than 25 km away from the association’s location.
Audio (1): Fida Dakouri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Dafa” Centre:
Fida Dakouri, Chair of the Board of Directors of the association, explained to the Verify-Sy platform that on the night of the fall of the ousted regime, the association was attacked by a group of armed civilians carrying light and medium weapons, who identified themselves as “revolutionaries.” They stole buses belonging to the association, along with batteries, and forced everyone present to leave the building before they themselves left the premises.
Dakouri added that the attackers did not target the association alone but also attacked a juvenile detention centre located on the same street, as well as some institutes in the area, just before the military operations administration reached Damascus at the time.
Audio (2): Fida Dakouri, Chair of the Board of Directors of the “Dafa” Centre:
The Verify-Sy platform obtained a video recorded today, Friday, December 27, at its request. The footage shows the same location where the circulated video was filmed, which is falsely claimed to depict the liberation of female prisoners from Sednaya Prison.
The Verify-Sy platform team also obtained footage from the centre’s surveillance camera, recorded after the power was restored and all the women and girls were forced out of the building. This footage clearly shows images of the armed individuals who carried out the attack on the centre.
Video (1): Footage showing images of the armed attackers at the centre:
Under the Authority’s Responsibility
Fida Dakouri called on the General Command of the Transitional Authority in Syria to investigate the incident and hold accountable those who attacked the centre and filmed the video. She clarified that they had impersonated a member of the “Military Operations Administration” to carry out theft. Dakouri also deemed the misleading circulation of the video by media outlets, portraying the location as Sednaya Prison, unacceptable, as it undermines the credibility of authentic footage.
No Women in Sednaya Prison
To verify the videos, images, and stories claiming the presence of women and children in Sednaya Prison, the Verify-Sy platform team contacted Diab Sariya, co-founder and director of the Sednaya Prisoners Association. Sariya confirmed that Sednaya is “a military prison designated exclusively for detaining men.” He noted that detainee files, previously under the regime’s control, are now in civilian hands, and no files have been found proving the presence of female detainees in Sednaya.
Sariya added that all circulating narratives about secret prisons, hidden floors or doors requiring special codes are fabricated and bear no relation to reality. He emphasized that previously published data on the prison’s structure accurately describes its layout.
An Elderly Woman Allegedly Spent Over Four Decades in Sednaya
In the same context, a widely circulated video claimed to show an elderly woman released from Sednaya Prison after 40 years of detention. According to the narratives, the woman was a pharmacist who advised her neighbour not to marry her daughter to an officer from the Alawite sect, which allegedly led to her imprisonment. Some platforms identified her as “Iman Boadqaji,” while others did not mention her name.
Through research into the name “Iman Boadqaji,” it was found to belong to a Syrian pharmacist from the city of Aleppo, not Damascus, who currently resides in Istanbul. The Verify-Sy platform team contacted her, and she clarified that she had not noticed her name being linked to the circulated video until their discussion. She confirmed her commitment to countering the spread of misinformation and stated that she would take legal action against the platform responsible for associating her name with the claim.
Boadqaji speculated that her name was linked to the woman as a result of her sharing the video in a post on her personal account, which she later deleted after receiving several comments questioning the credibility of the story associated with it.
Furthermore, the Verify-Sy platform team attempted to reach relatives or neighbours of the elderly woman featured in the video but could not accurately determine her name or the location she had been released from. However, the team confirmed that the woman had not been in Sednaya Prison, as it does not hold female detainees. Additionally, the woman’s physical and mental condition — as shown in the video — would make it impossible for her to receive proper care in a prison. Moreover, the name circulated is fabricated.
Conclusion
1. The scenes showing the release of women from Sednaya Prison are false.
2. Sednaya Prison is a military facility exclusively for male detainees.
3. The elderly woman did not come from Sednaya Prison, and her name is not Iman Boadqaji.
4. Iman Boadqaji is a pharmacist from Aleppo who resides in Turkey.
(Translated by NEPH from the Arabic original at verify-sy.com)