The Syria Prisons Museum – a digital documentation and archival project – was launched on Monday within the National Museum of Damascus in the Syrian capital, an initiative aimed at archiving the crimes that took place under the former Assad regime and a memorial to the country's thousands of torture victims.
The project will offer visitors a visceral experience of detention facilities under Assad, providing a history of Syria's harshest period of repression and documenting the violations suffered by detainees over the decades, highlighting the stories of survivors and their resilience in the face of state brutality and terrorism.
The Syria Prisons Museum will offer a virtual tour through execution and torture chambers, featuring video testimonies from prison survivors detailing the guards' depravity and criminality, as well as displaying lists of the officers who oversaw violations.
The organisers interviewed hundreds of survivors from various Syrian prisons, including approximately 45 former detainees at Saydnaya Prison, documenting their stories in detail.
They hope this will allow visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the traumatic experiences suffered by the prisoners.
Amer Matar, founder and director of the Syria Prisons Museum, told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister edition that the museum would present the archival data gathered "in stages – after having documented 72 prisons in Syria which existed under the former regime.
"Our primary goal is to preserve Syrian memory and provide the opportunity for human rights activists, historians, and victims' families to view these testimonies, which will contribute to promoting justice and accountability in the future."
Matar added: "We do not only seek to document violations, but also to bring life back to the voices of survivors, and encapsulate the experience of the pain and resilience in the memory of future generations."
The documentation and testimonies gathered have been used to construct an immersive exhibition where visitors use 3D glasses for a virtual reality experience of the execution and torture chambers detainees endured.
The materials documented could be used by human rights and legal experts to prosecute criminals from the Assad era, which will be an important factor to museum's existance, in addition to recording the atrocities committed and honouring the victims.
"Our goal is for the museum to platform Syrian memory, combining a historical record with a visual and emotional interactive experience, so that the voices of the victims remain as a witness to what happened and contribute to preventing the repeat of such violations in the future," Matar said.
Part of the exhibition chronicles the journey of detainees through a network of torture and interrogation centres, which often ended in the notorious Saydnaya Prison, which was used by Hafez al-Assad's regime since the 1980s to incarcerate political dissidents in some of the worst conditions for detainees in the world.
Following the 2011 Syrian uprising and its repression, it was transformed into a centre for mass executions, where thousands of political prisoners were killed by hanging or torture.
The initiative's organisers say the project falls within the framework of previous violations documentation initiatives, such as the ISIS Prisons Museum, data from which was later used as evidence in European courts against some of those involved in the crimes.
The project's main goal is not just historical documentation, but also to foster community debate on the need to protect human rights and fight against impunity, says Matar, added to its value in providing a legal and documentary resource for survivors and victims' families.
The combination of 3D visual documentation and first-hand testimonies will help visitors "feel the reality of the detainees' experiences, making the victims' voices part of Syria's present and future, contributing to the promotion of long-term justice and accountability, and preserving this collective memory from oblivion", Matar said.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.