DAMASCUS: 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.
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 the 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.
