How An Ex-inmate Of Brutal Syria Jail Overcame Trauma By Helping Others

Thousands of inmates in Saynaya prison, some held since the 1980s, were freed by Syrian rebels who seized Damascus (Credit: AFP)

Riyad Avlar spent 20 years languishing in Syria's jails, including a decade in the infamous Saydnaya prison, the scene of some of the Bashar al-Assad government's most brutal abuses.

Those long years behind bars have left him with one obsession: documenting and healing the atrocities committed inside the prison where he himself was locked up.