I.104 The Killing of Hind Rajab
Date of Incident
29 Jan 2024
Location
Gaza City, Gaza
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
Al Jazeera
On 29 January 2024, a six-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza City, Hind Rajab, pleaded over the phone for emergency workers to rescue her from a bullet-ridden car. Her body was found two weeks later, alongside the bodies of six of her family members. FA was asked by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines to investigate the circumstances of their killing.
I.103 The Grenfell Tower Fire: Situated Testimonies
Date of Incident
14 Jun 2017
Location
Grenfell Tower, North Kensington, London
Forums
Citizens' Tribunal, Media
Commissioned By
A coalition of lawyers representing bereaved families, survivors and affected local residents
The Grenfell Tower Fire was a generational tragedy for London and the UK, ultimately claiming 72 lives. Using a technique called 'situated testimony', we produced seven video interviews with bereaved family members, survivors, and nearby residents, aided by a 3D model of the tower and its surrounding environment. These interviews were screened for the first time as part of Grenfell Testimony Week.
I.87 Shireen Abu Akleh: The Extrajudicial Killing of a Journalist
Date of Incident
11 May 2022
Location
Jenin, Palestine
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report
In Partnership With
Al-Haq, Al Haq’s Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit
On 11 May 2022, while reporting on a raid by Israeli occupying forces on the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akhleh was fatally shot by a convoy of IOF military vehicles. With Al-Haq, we showed that she and her colleagues were explicitly targeted in an unprovoked attack by an IOF marksman despite being identifiable as press, and that she was deliberately denied medical aid.
I.81 Racist Terror Attack in Hanau: The Police Operation
Date of Incident
19 Feb 2020
Location
Hanau, Germany
Forums
Exhibition, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry
Commissioned By
Initiative 19. Februar
On 19 February 2020, nine people were murdered in a racist terror attack in Hanau, Germany. After the attack, the perpetrator went to his house, where he killed his mother, and himself. Police knew the perpetrator’s address early on but did not storm the house for almost five hours. We were asked by the victims’ families and the Initiative 19. Februar to examine how the police operation unfolded.
I.75 The Black Boxes of Disappearance: Enforced Disappearance in the Siege of the Palace of Justice
Date of Incident
6 Nov 1985 - 7 Nov 1985
Location
Bogotá, Colombia
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media, Truth Commission, Web Platform
Commissioned By
The Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia
Our investigation examines the actions of the Colombian security forces in the aftermath of the 1985 siege of the Palace of Justice that resulted in the enforced disappearance of cafeteria workers, students, visitors, guerrillas, and judges.
I.61 The Killing of Muhammad al-Arab
Date of Incident
2 Mar 2020
Location
Evros/Meriç river delta
Forums
Legal Process, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry
In Partnership With
Self-Initiated
When Turkey mobilized refugees and migrants to cross into Greece, reports emerged that Greek forces had responded with live fire, causing casualties.
We confirmed that, despite Greece’s denials, automatic rounds were fired from the Greek side of the border and one person, Muhammad al-Arab, was shot dead near a group of armed Greek soldiers.
I.55 The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar
Date of Incident
4 Mar 2020
Location
Kastanies/Pazarkule border crossing, Evros/Meriç region
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
Bellingcat, Lighthouse Reports
After Turkey started encouraging refugees and migrants to cross the Evros/Meriç land border into Greece, reports emerged that Greek forces had responded with live fire, causing multiple casualties. Despite Greece’s official denials, we confirmed that live rounds were indeed fired from the Greek side of the border, that several people were wounded, and one person, Muhammad Gulzar, was killed.
I.36 The Murder of Pavlos Fyssas
Date of Incident
18 Sep 2013
Location
Athens, Greece
Forums
Legal Process, Media
Commissioned By
Lawyers for the Fyssas family
The murder of an anti-fascist rapper by a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn could bring an end to the group's political ambitions. We analysed CCTV and police audio recordings to reconstruct the events of the night. Our evidence, presented to an Athens courtroom, poses difficult questions for the Greek police.
I.24 The Murder of Halit Yozgat
Date of Incident
6 Apr 2006
Location
Kassel, Germany
Forums
Citizens' Tribunal, Exhibition, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry
Commissioned By
The People's Tribunal 'Unraveling the NSU Complex'
Halit Yozgat was murdered by neo-Nazis at the desk of his internet café in Kassel, Germany, while a state intelligence agent was sitting just metres away. The agent claimed he didn’t hear the gunshots, didn’t smell the gunpowder, and didn’t see the body. Using digital models and 1:1 physical reconstructions, we tested those claims.
I.18 Torture in Saydnaya Prison
Date of Incident
1 Jan 2011 - Ongoing
Location
Saydnaya, Syria
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Amnesty International
Since the start of the Syrian Civil War, thousands of Syrians have been detained, tortured and executed at the notorious Saydnaya Prison.
Using architectural and acoustic modelling, we worked with five survivors to rebuild the prison and explore their memories of life and death inside its walls.
I.12 The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammed Abu Daher
Date of Incident
15 May 2014
Location
Beitunia, West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
DCI Palestine
When Israeli military police killed two Palestinian teenagers, the event was recorded by security cameras, US news teams, and photographers.
Using that footage, our audio and image analysis exposed a tactic by which Israeli personnel disguise live rounds as rubber-coated ‘non-lethal’ munitions.
Audio Analysis⤵
Sometimes, the most crucial information captured by a video is not the image, but the sounds that are heard ‘off camera’. Similarly, radio communications by police or other emergency services personnel can contain vital evidence, either in what is said, or what is heard in the background.
Forensic Architecture uses a number of techniques to employ audio recordings for investigative ends, including synchronisation, identification of weapons, or using ‘ear-witness’ testimony and ‘echo profiling’ to reconstruct spaces and events through sound.