Photo display this week spotlights ongoing threat to Syrian civilians,
shows brutality of the Assad regime
WHAT: After hosting a commemorative event Wednesday at the Capitol, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee are launching a photo display this week in Congress entitled “Caesar’s Photos: Inside Syria’s Secret Prisons” to recognize the ongoing atrocities and crimes against humanity being suffered by Syrian civilians.
The display shows some of the tens of thousands of pictures documenting signs of torture committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime taken by “Caesar,” a former government photographer.
WHERE, WHEN: The photos can be seen at the Russell Rotunda of the Senate Office Building from Monday, July 20 to Friday, July 24, and at the Rayburn Foyer of the House Office Building from Thursday, July 23, to Monday, July 27.
WHY: This past March, the civil war in Syria entered its fifth year. The violence has cost the lives of more than 200,000 Syrian civilians, displaced more than 10 million people — more than half of the population — as part of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, and is producing widespread atrocities and crimes against humanity.
Since October, visitors to the Museum have been able to see photos that Caesar provided to the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. They are a few of some 55,000 images taken by Syrian military police between 2011 and 2013. They are believed to show people killed at Syrian intelligence and security agency detention centers. Many of the photographed corpses show signs of starvation and torture. The exhibition is also available online.
“The display underscores the importance of witness,” says Cameron Hudson, the director of the Simon-Skjodt Center. “This defector risked his life to smuggle these photographs out of Syria to tell the world what was happening. We have an obligation to bring his story to light.”
The Museum has long raised concerns about the threat of genocidal violence in the Syrian conflict.
NOTE: The commemorative event at the Capitol on Wednesday, July 15, featured remarks from Rep. Ed Royce, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Ben Cardin, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, and Rep. Dan Kildee, each invoking the lessons of the Holocaust and importance of the Museum to spotlight the plight of Syria’s victims.
In addition to Museum Simon-Skjodt Center Director Cameron Hudson, Margit Meissner, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor and volunteer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Qutaiba Idlbi, a 25-year-old survivor of Assad’s atrocities, spoke on continued efforts to raise awareness and action for the Syrian people.
• Photos of the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHskgxEcLj