PHOTO: Detainees take control of Hama Prison on Monday


UPDATE 1600 GMT: Reports are circulating that regime forces have begun the storming of Hama Prison.

Inside the prison:


Syria’s opposition has warned of an imminent “massacre” of detainees who are protesting at Hama Prison.

The inmates took control of the prison on Monday after the Assad regime decided to move four detainees to Sednaya military prison for execution. Detainees seized the nine police officers who had come for the transfer and took control of the prison utilities department, including the bakery and kitchen. Prisoners reinforced the main gate by putting steel doors and beds behind it.

Security forces, including cars with machine guns, surrounded the facility but were unsuccessful in re-entering on Monday. Since then, they have maintained a siege on the prison, cutting water and electricity and mounting another failed attack on Wednesday.

A total of 46 detainees have been released this week, but there has been no further sign of a resolution for the 1,200 prisoners who remain — including 850 in the “terrorism wing” — despite mediation by a delegation of religious figures and sheikhs from Hama.

An inmate said on Thursday, “We’re now demanding an international guarantee from a group like the Red Cross, or a decree to release 491 prisoners the regime promised to let go.” Among the 491 are 441 detainees awaiting hearings before the “terrorism court”, which inmates say is unconstitutional.

The Vice-President of the Syrian National Coalition, Muwaffaq Nyrabia, said on Thursday that regime forces who are preparing to storm the prison.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees reported yesterday that Republican Guards, Air Force Intelligence, and pro-Assad militia have brought in reinforcements. It said authority for operations has been moved from the Interior Ministry to the Defense Ministry.

Activists said detainees were given a deadline of 5 a.m. local time to allow forces back into the prison. There is no word of any action after the expiry of the deadline.

Nyrabia warned that any operation would be “reckless” and called on international organizations, notably the Syrian Red Cross and Red Crescent, to visit the prison and evaluate the situation.

He asked the UN to press the Assad regime to release all political detainees, stop the bombing of civilians, and create the conditions for a political transition.