I.111 The Massacre at Tur Al-Zagh: Al-Dawayima, 29 October 1948
Date of Incident
29 Oct 1948
Location
Al-Dawayima, Palestine
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
Palestine Land Society
In collaboration with Palestine Land Society and working first-hand with Palestinian survivors of the 1948 Nakba, FA has uncovered new evidence related to a major massacre carried out by Israeli forces on 29 Oct 1948 in the village of al-Dawayima.
I.107 German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: Swakopmund
Date of Incident
1904 - 1908
Location
Swakopmund, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA)
During their genocidal campaign against the indigenous Ovaherero and Nama, German colonial troops established concentration camps across today’s Namibia. The largest was in the port town of Swakopmund, a logistics hub built by forced labour. Working with local activists, we reconstructed the town as it was at that time, revealing the location of Swakopmund's concentration camp for the first time.
I.106 Chemical Fire at Marathon Refinery
Date of Incident
24 Aug 2023 - 28 Aug 2023
Location
Garyville, Louisiana, USA
Forums
Media, Web Platform
In Partnership With
The Guardian, Earthjustice, Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, The Descendants Project, Boundless Community Action
When a leaking petrochemical tank at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ caught fire, it produced a thick plume of toxic smoke that spread for miles over neighbouring communities. Authorities claimed that nearby residents were unaffected, even as reports of severe health impacts emerged. Fearing a cover-up, some of those residents asked FA to investigate.
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.99 An Assessment of Visual Material Presented by the Israeli Legal Team at the ICJ
Date of Incident
12 Jan 2024
Location
None
Forums
Legal Process
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Forensic Architecture’s analysis of the visual material presented by the Israeli legal team at the ICJ hearing on 12 January 2024 found multiple instances of misrepresentation, mislabelling, and misleading descriptions.
I.96 The Killing of Sammy Baker
Date of Incident
13 Aug 2020
Location
Amsterdam-West, Netherlands
Forums
Legal Process, Media
In Partnership With
Argos (VPRO)
23-year-old Sammy went to Amsterdam to celebrate his birthday with friends. Three days later, after an episode of mental health crisis, Sammy was shot to death by police, who claim he threatened them with a knife. At the request of Sammy's family, FA and Forensis examined the video evidence and police testimony, while reconstructing Sammy's body position at the moment of the shots.
I.91 Fire in Moria Refugee Camp
Date of Incident
8 Sep 2020
Location
Lesvos, Greece
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Lawyers for the Moria 6
The fire which destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos was at least the 247th outbreak to have occurred in and around the overcrowded camp since 2013. Six young asylum seekers who came to be known as the 'Moria 6' were accused of arson and jailed. FA and Forensis reconstructed the fire’s spread, casting significant doubt on the basis for those convictions.
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.85 Gold Mining and Violence in the Amazon Rainforest
Date of Incident
2019 - Ongoing
Location
Yanomami Territory
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX)
This investigation demonstrates how the Bolsonaro administration’s policies led directly to a rapid spread of destructive gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon and increasing violence against Indigenous communities.
I.83 Sheikh Jarrah: Ethnic Cleansing in Jerusalem
Date of Incident
12 May 2021
Location
Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
This interactive urban narrative explains the ways in which Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah are being forcibly displaced, and their struggle with Israeli courts and settler groups. The story traverses multiple scales starting from homes invaded by settlers, and moves to the street, neighbourhood, city and the land, showing how colonial practices and apartheid planning displace Palestinians.
I.82 Russian Strike on the Kyiv TV Tower
Date of Incident
1 Mar 2022
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
The Center for Spatial Technologies (CST)
The Russian strike on the Kyiv TV tower and the site of Babyn Yar on 1 March 2022 resulted in civilian casualties and urban destruction—but it also pierced through layers of historical strata, exposing a history of violence, genocide and negation that unfolded on the very same ground. This is the first installation in a new long-term collaboration with the Center for Spatial Technologies.
I.79 Living Archaeology in Gaza
Date of Incident
7th Century BCE - Ongoing
Location
Gaza
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Decades of bombings and humanitarian disaster inflicted by the Israeli occupation have posed a constant threat not only to Palestinian lives but also to their cultural heritage. FA has conducted the first open-source excavation of this remarkable archaeological site along Gaza’s coastline, illustrating the myriad risks it faces.
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.74 The Murder of Lucas Villa
Date of Incident
5 May 2021
Location
Pereira, Colombia
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
Bellingcat, Cerosetenta, Baudo Agencia Pública
On the 5th of May 2021, Lucas Villa, a Colombian student, was shot and fatally wounded in Pereira, Colombia while participating in the National Strike. Our findings suggest Lucas was targeted in a coordinated assassination.
I.66 The Killing of Zineb Redouane
Date of Incident
1 Dec 2018
Location
Rue des Feuillants, Marseille
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
Disclose
80-year-old Zineb Redouane was fatally wounded by a tear gas grenade as she stood at the window of her fourth-floor apartment, as protests continued in the streets outside. A ballistics report cleared the officer who fired the shot of wrongdoing. Working with Disclose, we re-examined the case.
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.52 Shipwreck at the Threshold of Europe, Lesvos, Aegean Sea
Date of Incident
28 Oct 2015
Location
Aegean Sea, Lesvos
Forums
Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
The death of more than 40 people off the coast of Lesvos in October 2015 was the single deadliest incident in Europe's 'long summer of migration'. One of the survivors, Amel Alzakout, recorded the shipwreck on a waterproof wrist camera. Her footage provides a unique, situated perspective of this tragic event at the threshold of Europe.
I.48 Oil and Gas Pollution in Vaca Muerta
Date of Incident
2 Jan 2013 - Ongoing
Location
Vaca Muerta, Argentina
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Guardian
Vaca Muerta is one of the world's largest fossil fuel resources. The 2013 arrival of the international oil and gas industry to the region has irreversibly changed its landscape, inflicting widespread environmental damage. We used satellite images and anthropological reports to investigate the industry's impact upon the traditional ways of life of the indigenous Mapuche people who live there.
I.19 Killing in Umm al-Hiran
Date of Incident
18 Jan 2017
Location
Umm al Hiran, Negev/Naqab desert
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
A police raid on an ‘illegalised’ Bedouin village in the Naqab/Negev desert led to the deaths of a local man and an Israeli policeman.
Police quickly blamed the man for what they called a ‘terror attack’. In fact, as we exposed, Israeli police had fired unprovoked on an innocent driver, causing him to crash into them.
I.38 Lethal Warning: The killing of Luai Kahil and Amir al-Nimrah
Date of Incident
14 Jul 2018
Location
Gaza City, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
B’Tselem
Two children died when an Israeli 'warning strike' hit a building in Gaza City. When the Israeli army shared videos of the attack, the strike that killed the teenagers had been removed. Why did the IDF manipulate their own footage? And what does the incident mean for the 'warning strike' policy?
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.29 The Ali Enterprises Factory Fire
Date of Incident
11 Sep 2012
Location
Karachi, Pakistan
Forums
Legal Process
Commissioned By
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
260 people died when fire broke out in a factory that made textiles for a German retailer.
We exposed failings of regulation and inspection, from overcrowding to a lack of fire escapes, in support of a legal claim against the retailer that could break new ground in corporate responsibility.
I.27 Torture and Detention in Cameroon
Date of Incident
1 Jan 2015 - 1 Jan 2016
Location
Far North, Cameroon
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
Amnesty International
In the US-backed war against Boko Haram, Cameroon’s security forces are detaining and torturing civilians with impunity.
Investigating allegations made by survivors from two sites of illegal detention, we found US military personnel living and working in close proximity to sites of torture.
I.21 Airstrikes on the al-Jinah Mosque
Date of Incident
16 Mar 2017
Location
al-Jinah, Syria
Forums
United Nations, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
When two Hellfire missiles destroyed the Sayidina Omar Ibn al-Khattab mosque during evening prayer, thirty-eight civilians died.
Piecing together available videos and aerial imagery, we challenged the Pentagon’s claim that the site was an al-Qaeda meeting house, forcing condemnation from the UN.
I.20 Airstrikes on M2 Hospital
Date of Incident
1 Jun 2016 - 1 Dec 2016
Location
Aleppo, Syria
Forums
Human Rights Report, Media
Commissioned By
Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Omar Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital was struck fourteen times by munitions fired by the Syrian army, including cluster and barrel bombs.
Within a digital model, we corroborated multiple sources of CCTV footage to support claims that Syria and its allies were intentionally targeting civilian hospitals.
I.15 The Bombing of Rafah
Date of Incident
8 Jul 2014 - 26 Aug 2014
Location
Rafah, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
Commissioned By
Amnesty International
When an Israeli soldier was captured and taken into the tunnels below Rafah, the full force of Israel’s military was unleashed.
Using smartphone footage and satellite imagery, we mapped the destruction as over two thousand munitions were fired into the city in a single day.
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.
I.11 Knock on the Roof: Drone strike in Beit Lahiya
Date of Incident
9 Jan 2009
Location
Beit Lahiya, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
United Nations, Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
An anti-tank missile, fired at the home of the Salha family, left just a small hole in the roof. The bomb that followed three minutes later destroyed the house, killing six people.
We interviewed surviving family members and investigated the tactics of the ‘warning shot’.
I.10 Drone Strike in Miranshah
Date of Incident
30 Mar 2012
Location
Miranshah, Pakistan
Forums
United Nations, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform
Commissioned By
UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
Video footage of the aftermath of a drone strike that killed four people was smuggled across siege lines before being broadcast on MSNBC.
We analysed the footage frame-by-frame to confirm the location of the building, the consequences of the strike, and the munition used.
I.3 The Use of White Phosphorus in Urban Environments
Date of Incident
27 Dec 2008 - 18 Jan 2009
Location
Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
United Nations
Commissioned By
Yesh Gvul, Michael Sfard Law Office
The 2008–2009 conflict saw the use by Israeli forces of white phosphorus, a toxic, flammable and corrosive airborne munition.
We analysed the use and effects of the weapon in support of calls to make its use illegal, and presented our report to a 2012 UN convention.
I.2 The Killing of Bassem Abu Rahma
Date of Incident
17 Apr 2009
Location
Bil'in, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Michael Sfard Law Office, B’Tselem
An unarmed demonstrator was killed by a tear-gas canister fired across the West Bank barrier wall. The army denied it was intentional.
We used footage from three cameras to prove that the soldier had intended to kill. Israeli authorities reopened the investigation, but no soldier was ever charged.
Image Complex⤵
The incidents we investigate are often only captured partially by video or audio evidence, and often the most important moments take place ‘off camera’, in the time and space between the documentation that exists.
In such cases, an ‘image-data complex’ is a means by which Forensic Architecture’s investigators can arrange, process and cross-reference that material. An image-data complex is an arrangement of individual pieces of evidence within a digital architectural model, in which, through processes of synchronisation and geo-location, accurate relationships of time and space between those pieces can be established.
The models themselves then become databases that allow our researchers to navigate between multiple sources of evidence.