Hope and despair in Assad’s ‘human slaughterhouse’ – The Guardian

Exclusive: The Guardian gains access to Sednaya jail, where prisoners are rumoured to be trapped underground – as desperate relatives wait for news.

1. The celebrations in Damascus were interrupted by a whisper.

   On the outskirts of the city, a door had been found. Beyond it lay a vast underground complex, five storeys deep, containing the last prisoners of the Assad regime, who were gasping for air.

2. The UK and other European countries have said they will suspend the processing of asylum applications from Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, with Austria already preparing a “repatriation and deportation” programme to the country.