Remembering Islamic State Victims
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Giving Voice, Driving Change
THE BIG PICTURE
Impunity for crimes committed amid war remains an enormous weakness in the creaking international system. ? One of the core contributions civil society and media cn make is documentation – the painstaking work of recovering evidence, bearing witness, sustaining memory. ?
The ISIS Prisons Museum , which launches this week after four years’ effort, is a groundbreaking initiative with potential as a remarkable model applicable to conflict zones worldwide. The brainchild of Alshare – an international media collective, founded by a Syrian journalist and documentary filmmaker - with funding and support via IWPR, the project utilised remarkable visual technics to create an immersive three-dimensional virtual archive of the network of prisons run by the Islamic State (IS) between 2014 and 2019 when they controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq. ?
Tens of thousands of civilians suffered torture and death in these locations. Many of these detainees were never seen again. ?
The Prisons Museum uses meticulous research and forensic investigation to allow visitors to explore more than 100 of these sites online. Visitors can switch between images of the buildings’ current state and animated reconstructions; video interviews with survivors and audio testimonies are accessible throughout. ?
State-of-the-art technology even allows visitors to zoom in to read graffiti left on the walls – for many detainees, their last messages to their loved ones.
VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE
“It is a complex process using 3D technology – originally designed to serve real estate agents - in a war zone,” explained Alshare's general manager.?
The team had to negotiate access by building trust with local communities in Syria and Iraq, as well as political and religious groups. Many of the sites used by IS – ranging from schools, sports clubs and private houses - have been partially destroyed or repurposed.?
“The buildings are empty, sunlight enters through broken windows, doors are stolen and parts of buildings collapsed - fundamental aspects of the functioning of the prisons are no longer comprehensible. So the additional descriptions of personal experiences in the places are crucial.”
In one site memorialised, the Ahdath prison in Mosul, Iraq, the tour takes in everything from offices where incomers were processed to areas marked out for torture, where detainees were hung upside down or had the soles of their feet whipped.?
Another venue, a sports stadium in Mosul, infamous for the public stoning of women, has been captured by more than 900 panoramas. Animations recreate the so-called “dog-house” where IS confined prisoners in tiny spaces, as well as the solitary confinement cells converted from toilet cubicles. In one room, damage makes it clear that someone was shot against a wall.
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WHY IT MATTERS
The evidence collected has been so meticulously documented that a number of European countries are using it in prosecutions against former IS members. And the human impact of memorialisation remains crucial.?
“This is a living document; the process is not over,” said project’s technical manager, explaining that more sites were still being researched and filmed.
“We found inscriptions from individuals who had been held there, their messages to their loved ones, their last testimonials. These have been documented in detail and added to our database.”
“We strive to preserve evidence of the crimes committed by IS, in order to process them and to strengthen civil society, as well as to support victims’ rights and organisations, including in future trials. We care about political education as well and aim to make a stand against religious extremism – and we hope to inspire other projects in the intersection between journalism and human rights.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
This digital archive, which includes over 70,000 original ISIS documents retrieved from the sites, will be accessible for journalists, researchers and human rights organisations – and crucially, those most directly affected by IS atrocities in Syria and Iraq.
“Family members of forcibly disappeared people are at the core of our work and we hope that some may be able to find answers to many painful questions”.?
IWPR’s mission is to help local civil society and media voices have impact. Against a depressing backdrop of social media-led malign information, the Prisons Museum demonstrates the dramatic power of evolving technology to collect and present information that supports human rights and public good.