Chalk Lines

This project focuses on the Red Security Building in the city of Sulaymaniyah. The building is a powerful symbol of the era of Saddam Hussein’s regime, which was characterized by the imprisonment, torture, and execution of Kurdish dissidents.

The Red Jail, which was also known as Amna Suraka, has been converted into a museum. The torture chambers and tools, along with the writings of the prisoners on the walls, have been preserved to demonstrate to future generations the cruelty of Saddam’s fascist regime.

However, the individuals responsible for this transformation held biases, focusing solely on the recollections of political prisoners affiliated with their own parties. Consequently, the memories of the footballers who once played on this site have been entirely disregarded.

Ahmed served as the captain of his team during that period. He fondly remembers a time when he and his friends played football on a field that would later become Amna Suraka. He stated, “I can still vividly recall the day they drew the chalk lines to mark out the prison perimeter, signifying the end of our games on that field. Several of my friends were apprehended and detained in that structure,” he recounted.