Understanding Prison

Unfortunately, the three-day event “Understanding Prison: Carceral Culture and Human Rights in the MENA Region” cannot take place as planned. HAU supports this difficult decision of the organizers Mena Prison Forum und UMAM Documentation and Research, who justify the postponement as follows:

“Due to the situation in Gaza, the instability and threat of violence looming over Lebanon, and the highly emotional and charged environment both regionally and globally, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the upcoming event ‘Understanding Prison: Carceral Culture and Human Rights in the MENA Region.’
We did not make this decision lightly. It was made with careful consideration of the time and energy needed from the Mena Prison Forum and UMAM D&R team, and from our partners and participants, to engage in this event. We do not believe that the regional and global dynamics allow, at this moment, for the open, interdisciplinary, and critical discussion of human rights, justice and accountability, and prisons and carcerality that we hoped for. We hope to be able to discuss these issues at a better moment and to reconceive the event to appropriately address these topics in light of the ongoing developments.”

Together we are planning to postpone this project, which is also important for us, until next year.

Prisons are a key to understanding societies and political regimes. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conference “Understanding Prison” puts this correlation at the center of the debate and addresses imprisonment and torture, exile and displacement, justice and accountability – in the MENA region and beyond.

The starting point is the work of the MENA Prison Forum (MPF), an interdisciplinary documentation and research platform working on the significance of prisons for the region's political culture, future, and identity. With an exhibition, music, film, discussions, and workshops, the three-day event invites former prisoners, human rights activists, artists, filmmakers, and lawyers to help decipher the prison complex as a place that shapes and influences the world.

Lectures, Workshops and artistic contributions with Hassan Abdulrahman, Ali Abou Dehn, Anwar al-Bunni, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Eylaf Bader Eddin, Jaber Baker, Khaled Barakeh, Ibrahim Bayrikdar, Monika Borgmann, Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Mathias Ghyoot, Franziska Grillmeier, Hossam Hamalawy, Maria Hartmann, Mina Ibrahim, Andrew Jefferson, Wolfgang Kaleck, Kalia Kambanella, Mina Khani, Patrick Kroker, Kesra Kurdi, Lynn Maalouf, Tomas Max Martin, Amer Matar, Anne-Marie McManus, Wafa Mustafa, Ayman Nahle, Mario Neumann, Stella Peisch, Haitham Qatrib, Ahmad Said, Mithat Sancar, Bente Scheller, Joumana Seif, Assad Shalsh, Fritz Streiff, Hannah Tatjes, Margarita Tsomou, Uğur Ümit Üngör, Eyal Weizman, Jad Yateem and many more