The MENA Prison Forum (MPF), an initiative of UMAM D&R, together with medico international and the Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) Theater, is pleased to invite you to the first event of the series “Understanding Prison: The MENA Prison Forum in Berlin." This first event is focused on historical and contemporary prison dynamics in Syria. The event will take place at 19:00 on 27 November at the Hebbel am Ufer Theater (HAU 1) in Berlin.

For tickets, please visit: https://hebbel-am-ufer-tickets.reservix.de/p/reservix/event/2314923. 

Program

19:00 Welcome by representatives of HAU, the MPF, and medico international

19:15 Concert: "Music behind Sednaya's Bars: Performing Songs from Sednaya Prison in Syria (1980s-1990s)” 

With Asaad Shlash, Ibrahim Byrakdar, Kesra Kurdi, Haitham Alkatreb, Hassan Abd Alrahman, and Adnan Hassan

Introduction by Eylaf Bader Eddin

Arabic with English subtitles 

Thirty years ago, to counter the oppressive background noise in the cells of the notorious Sednaya prison in Syria, a group of political prisoners formed a music group within the prison. They built their instruments from leftover food, clothing threads, and other prison materials, whispering and secretly playing their songs. After several decades, six musicians are coming together again and performing live for the first time in public on replicas of the instruments they built in prison. The concert aims to highlight forms of resistance and survival that were developed as counters to the abject horrors of the Syrian prison system.

20:00 Talk: “Syria between Prison, Exile and Accountability”

With Yassin Al Haj Saleh (Syrian author), Lynn Maalouf (Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria), and Joumana Seif (ECCHR) 

Moderation by Bente Scheller (Heinrich Böll Foundation) 

English and Arabic with English and Arabic simultaneous translation

The panelists will discuss both the long history of imprisonment, torture, and human rights violations in Syria and the new dimensions of these dynamics since the bloody suppression of the 2011 revolution and throughout the ongoing civil war. The panelists will address the connection between prison and exile, the continual use of repressive tactics in Syria, and various possible and needed paths towards justice and accountability for those affected. 

The MENA Prison Forum

The MENA Prison Forum, an initiative of UMAM Documentation and Research (UMAM D&R), is dedicated to researching prison culture in the MENA region. It is an interdisciplinary international network that includes former prisoners, filmmakers, academics, and activists from various countries around the region. Together with medico international and HAU, the MPF is organizing a series of events in Berlin to promote critical and continual engagement on carceral conditions and dynamics in the MENA region.