Why We Launched the Syria Prisons Museum

The names of those sentenced to death were called once a week. These men were removed from the group cells of Sednaya Prison and chained together. They were usually held in designated cells for their last three days of life, during which time they were deprived of food and water . Apparently this made them die more easily, less messily. The killing itself was done on the ground floor, in the reception hall, using a gallows constructed of metal pipes that was large enough to dispatch several victims at once.

The victims were not criminals but political prisoners. They had been jailed for protesting, organizing, or fighting against Bashar Assad’s regime, which finally collapsed in December after nearly 14 years of revolution and counter-revolutionary war that killed hundreds of thous