Mazen al-Hamada

Journeys

Biography

Mazen al-Hamada is a Syrian torture survivor who was detained in Saydnaya military prison and other Assad detention facilities, where he was subjected to severe torture. After his release he fled Syria and became one of the most prominent and vivid witnesses to torture in Assad's detention system, testifying before European parliaments, courts, and human rights organizations with extraordinary detail and emotional power. He gave crucial testimony in the trial of Anwar Raslan in Koblenz, Germany — which resulted in Raslan's life sentence in 2022. In 2020, he made the devastating decision to return to Syria — reportedly out of desperation and longing for his family — and upon arrival was immediately arrested. He was killed by the Assad regime shortly before the government's fall in December 2024 — just days before the liberation he had worked to bring about through his testimony. He did not live to see Syria free. His case stands as one of the starkest examples of the Assad regime's willingness to murder witnesses to its own crimes.