Hello, I'm Mark Lohen. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

Each week in BBC OS conversations, we bring people together to share their experiences.

This time, it's conversations with Syrians after the fall of Assad.

Syrians have finally got their voices back.

After 50 years of living under the cruelty of their president, Bashar al-Assad,

they can now speak freely without fear. Although some are still cautious. In today's episode,

we talk with Syrians across the country and also those living abroad who fled the brutal

regime. Now Syria is free. It's really, really important for us Syrians to return to our homeland.

It's not just about rebuilding Syria.

It's about reclaiming the identity and the future of Syria.

One of those Syrians abroad is Kusai, who now lives in Germany.

Later in this edition, he tells us how he couldn't sleep

for days as he watched the dramatic events unfold on TV. Remy is a dentist in Aleppo in Syria. During

our conversation with her, she describes how she cried with joy when she heard the news.

That news was the collapse of the Assad family dictatorship after more

than 50 years. President Assad escaped to Russia as Islamist rebel groups claimed control of the country

in a lightning offensive. In just 12 days, they swept from Aleppo in the north down to the capital

Damascus with little resistance.

And this week, for the first time in their lives, many Syrians have felt liberated enough to discuss their experiences of Assad's oppression and corruption.

One focus has been the infamous Sudnaya prison outside the capital.

Thousands of inmates, men, women and children have been freed from there and have told stories of systematic abuse, torture and murder.

Our first conversation comes from last Monday's edition of our daily OS program,

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