Syrian activist whose suffering became symbol of Assad brutality found dead in Sednaya prison

A friend said Mazen al-Hamada ‘had endured torture so cruel, so unimaginable, that his retellings carried an almost otherworldly weight’. Photograph: Nelson Pereira

When he spoke to lawmakers and in lecture theatres around the world, Mazen al-Hamada’s face told the story of brutal torture by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The discovery of the Syrian activist’s body inside the notorious Sednaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus brought the news that he never lived to see its downfall.

Hamada’s sunken eyes and haunted face, his tears as he described the depth of horrors he experienced, made him a symbol of the crimes the Assad regime committed against those who spoke out against it.