Halawa Prison

Halawa Prison is located in the Abu Hamam area of Deir ez-Zor Province, in eastern Syria. It was one of dozens of small security prisons and detention centers established by ISIS in the villages of Deir ez-Zor. These were set up after August 10, 2014, when residents fled and ISIS began seizing numerous vacant homes.
The prison was established in a two-story house that belonged to a member of the Shaitat tribe who had lost two of his sons in battle. The owner now resides outside Syria.

Prisoners were detained on the first floor, which consisted of four solitary cells, a hallway, and two group cells. The second floor included rooms that were used for interrogation, a kitchen, a break room and a bathroom for ISIS members.

To investigate this prison, the ISIS Prisons Museum relied on five video testimonies from former prisoners who were held here in 2015 and 2017. It made an architectural analysis of the prison and documented the changes ISIS made to its rooms. The changes include installing solitary cells, replacing the wooden doors with iron ones, blocking windows in group cells with cinder blocks and cement, and installing bathrooms in the two group cells.

This facility was designated as a security prison in which suspected collaborators and those who had fought against ISIS were detained. In addition, cigarette sellers and people who owned secret internet connections were detained here.
Two ISIS jailers, Abu Dujana and Abu Obeida, were in charge.

The interrogators were from Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. Interrogations were accompanied by torture including beating with sticks and hoses and suspension in the ‘scorpion’ position. In this position, the prisoner’s arms and legs were tied together behind his back and then suspended from the ceiling. According to the information collected by the IPM, there was no dedicated torture room in this prison, unlike in other ISIS prisons.

The exact date of ISIS withdrawal from the house is not known. The owners reclaimed the house in 2023.