- Tadmor Prison
Tadmor prison ( _ar. سجن تدمر) is located in
Palmyra in the deserts of easternSyria approximately 200 kilometers northeast ofDamascus ("Tadmor", or "Tadmur" is the Arabic name for Palmyra).The structures were originally built as military barracks by the French Mandate forces and is known for harsh conditions, extensive
human rights abuse,torture and summary executions.During the 1980s Tadmor prison housed thousands of Syrian prisoners, both political and criminal and it was also the scene of a 1980 massacre of prisoners by
Rifaat al-Assad , after the Syrian branch of theIslamist Muslim Brotherhood had attempted to assassinate his brother, presidentHafez al-Assad . It is estimated that one thousand prisoner were killed in the massacre [ [http://www.shrc.org/data/aspx/d3/3243.aspx SHRC.org | The Tadmur (Palmyra) Prison Massacre on its 27th Anniversary| 2007 Reports ] ] .While the feared
Mezze prison in Damascus was closed byBashar al-Assad after he assumed power in 2000, Tadmor prison is still in use.External links
* [http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria2.htm A 1996 Human Rights Watch report on Tadmor prison]
ee also
*
Hama Massacre
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