Syria - From Silence to Memory
Read about the new Damascus museum memorialising the heartbreaking stories of those who suffered in the country’s prisons.
Also see
Syria After Assad: Euphoria and Fears
The euphoria and fear of Syrians following Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.
Seeking Justice in Post-Assad Syria
An international media collective documents the newly-exposed horrors of Syria's regime prisons.
Welcome to IWPR’s Frontline Update, your go-to source to hear from journalists and local voices at the front lines of conflict.
THE BIG PICTURE
In a move unthinkable before the fall of the Assad regime, a new museum in Damascus is documenting the heartbreaking stories of those who suffered in the country’s prisons.
With a permanent home at the Syrian National Museum, the initiative includes an immersive online exhibition featuring 3D virtual reconstructions of sites such as the notorious Sednaya detention centre, as well as detailed survivor testimony.
VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE
“Since my release in 2019, I have been trying to show the world, families, and friends the hell that detainees suffered under the Assad regime,” Baraa, a former Sednaya detainee, told IWPR. “But I always felt that people couldn’t truly imagine or understand. This is where the Syria Prisons Museum is so important — it preserves memory and shows the world the scale of the crimes and injustice in Syria during the Assad regime’s era.”
By making evidence publicly accessible, the museum not only advances emotional recognition for survivors but also builds shared national memory and supports the potential use of evidence in future justice efforts.
“Seeing Sednaya prison today virtually and being able to move through its parts gave me the chance to feel and see a piece of what I have spent years imagining,” said Um Ahmad, whose son was arrested in 2013 and detained for five years before the authorities informed the family of his death. They were never given his body or told how he died.
“The hope that these testimonies and pieces of evidence could help uncover the fate of my son and other innocent missing persons means so much to us as families.”
WHY IT MATTERS
The Syria Prisons Museum marks a transformative moment in the country’s transitional justice process, preserving memory while amplifying victims’ voices and linking documentation to future accountability mechanisms.
Created by Alshare - a media collective founded by a former Syrian journalist - with support from IWPR, the Syria Prisons Museum builds on previous work including a vast archive of Islamic State (IS) detention centres in which tens of thousands were detained and disappeared.
“Professionally, it is deeply meaningful to see years of effort completed successfully,” said Thanaa Jebbi, IWPR Syria programme manager. “Personally, as a Syrian who dreams of justice for all victims and accountability for perpetrators, it was a profoundly emotional moment.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
Civil society and media play a crucial role in the essential work of documenting conflict, uncovering evidence and bearing witness.
The Syria Prisons Museum shows how an act of public remembrance, by giving space to the experiences of the imprisoned and disappeared, challenges decades of silence and invites a new national dialogue rooted in truth and dignity.
