Damascus, Aug. 28 (SANA) Inside the Ministry of Interior pavilion at the 63rd Damascus International Fair, cell doors, heavy padlocks, worn clothing, and implements of torture stand as grim testaments to decades of enforced disappearance and systematic abuse. Held under the title “When Walls Speak,” the exhibition preserves the memory of Syrian detainees under the ousted regime while honoring their ingenuity, survival, and spirit of resilience behind bars.
The pavilion features authentic artifacts retrieved from security branches—including transferred cells, interrogation chairs, and torture devices from Branch 215 and Branch 244—alongside handmade items fashioned by prisoners using sparse daily materials to communicate with the outside world or secure basic necessities.
Personal encounters with former security branches
For many visitors, the exhibition represents a deeply personal journey of memory, grief, and truth-seeking following the fall of the ousted regime.
Abdul Khaliq Idris, from the town of al-Qusayr in the Homs countryside, paused before a heavy steel door removed directly from the notorious Branch 215 in Kafr Sousa neighborhood, Damascus. Idris lost his father during the revolution, receiving news nine months after his arrest that he had died under torture inside the facility.
Speaking to SANA, Idris explained that when he saw the door taken from Branch 215, he automatically began reading the names written on it, hoping to find his father’s name among them, even if it did not lead to new information, but out of a desire to find any trace he could connect with.
Idris recalled his previous visit to the security quadrant in the Kafr Sousa area of Damascus, where Branch 215 is located, explaining that simply standing in the place brought back the feelings of fear associated with it for years, despite knowing that those present today after liberation are Syrian youth and citizens. He noted that the place prompted him to think about the detainees and prisoners who passed through those dungeons and what they endured inside.
During his tour of the pavilion, Idris paused at the tools made by the detainees themselves inside the prisons, pointing out that they were creative and created things out of nothing, including items fashioned from olive pits and date seeds, makeshift jackets, and handcrafted shoes. He also stopped in front of the torture implements and the cell transferred from Branch 244, as well as the chairs used during torture operations, considering these displays a revelation of the methods practiced against detainees. Idris emphasized that the release of detainees from prisons and the fall of the ousted regime represented a great blessing.
Documenting atrocities and the legacy of “Caesar”
The exhibition also features photographic records and documentation linked to the “Caesar” photos, drawing visitors who recognized family members martyred in military hospitals and security dungeons.
In the same pavilion, Abdul Qader Ghalla, a resident of the Jobar neighborhood in Damascus, recalled the story of his cousin Muhammad, who was arrested when he was seventeen—initially in what appeared to be the Palestine Branch—before the family received news of his death months after his arrest in the notorious Saydnaya Prison.
Ghalla explained that a fellow detainee who was with his cousin informed him that Muhammad was subjected to severe torture during interrogation, and that an eye injury later became the distinguishing mark that helped the family identify him among the “Caesar” photos. He stressed the importance of shedding light on the ousted regime’s detention file and what occurred inside those facilities to preserve the memory of the victims and document what they endured.
Since the liberation, Syria has moved to strengthen its transitional justice path and develop its institutional framework. On May 17, 2025, President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 20 establishing the National Commission for Transitional Justice. The Commission is tasked with uncovering the truth about serious violations committed under the deposed regime, coordinating with relevant institutions to hold perpetrators accountable, providing reparations to victims and their families, and promoting guarantees of non-repetition.
H.H
