jonathan sawaya

Press Statement from the Syria Prisons Museum At approximately 3:00 p.m. Damascus time on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, Syrian authorities arrested journalist and human-rights advocate Amer Matar, the founding director of the Syria Prisons Museum, at the al-Jdeideh border crossing. The arrest comes only days after the museum opened its space inside the National Museum in Damascus, a move that unmistakably targets freedom of expression and the memory of victims. The Syria Prisons Museum condemns this arrest in the strongest possible terms. Our colleague, Amer Matar—a former political prisoner in the Assad regime’s prisons and a key witness before the Koblenz court in Germany against members of the regime’s security services—has been a voice for survivors of detention and torture. His arrest is an act of reprisal devoid of any legitimacy. He was taken into custody unlawfully, in a manner that recalls the patterns of arbitrary arrest that marked the regime’s earlier era—practices we reject outright. Museum staff have been prevented from learning where he is held or which authority seized him, amid a total blackout regarding his fate. We hold the Syrian authorities, and the Ministry of Interior in particular, fully responsible for Amer Matar’s safety. We demand immediate disclosure of his whereabouts and the reasons for his arrest, and his prompt release. We at the Syria Prisons Museum reaffirm our commitment to defending freedom of expression and human rights in Syria. We regard the arrest of Amer Matar as a direct assault on the memory of victims and on every effort that seeks justice and dignity. Syria Prisons Museum Damascus – Berlin September 24, 2025