Forensic Architecture

I.118  Three Days at Al-Azhar University: 28-30 January 2024

Date
28 Jan 2024 – 30 Jan 2024
Summary
Since October 2023, Israeli evacuation orders have repeatedly displaced Palestinians throughout Gaza, often to areas designated as 'humanitarian' or ‘safe zones’ but that in fact were no less dangerous and critically lacking in life-sustaining provisions. Through the account of a couple from Beit Hanoun, this narrative study tells a harrowing story of endurance in the midst of persistent violence.

SP.4  Escaping Libya's Detention Industry · Supported Project ↗

Date of Incident
None
Location
Libya
Forums
Legal Process, Human Rights Report
An FA-supported project by
Forensis
Summary
Countless migrants and refugees remain trapped in Libya’s network of brutal detention centres, tortured and mistreated. Through interviews with survivors and local experts, Forensis traces the evolution of state-affiliated detention centres out of people-trafficking networks, and their entanglement with EU support.

I.110  The Evros/Meriç River: A Century of Border Design

Date of Incident
1926 – 2025
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greece/Turkey
Forums
Web Platform
In Partnership With
Self-Initiated
Summary
First drawn a century ago, the border that separates Greece from Turkey along the Evros/Meriç river at the EU’s southeastern frontier is deadlier and more opaque than ever. FA/Forensis built an interactive platform that unpacks this complex and lethal border infrastructure, and examines the present-day condition of the border against the transformation of the river landscape over the past century.

I.100  Humanitarian Violence in Gaza

Date of Incident
07 Oct 2023 – Ongoing
Location
Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Since 7 October 2023, the Israeli military has abused and weaponised humanitarian measures such as ‘evacuation orders’, ‘safe routes’, and ‘safe zones’ to facilitate the systematic mass displacement of the Palestinian civilian population toward the southern border of Gaza.

I.84  Drift-backs in the Aegean Sea

Date of Incident
March 2020 – Ongoing
Location
Aegean Sea
Forums
Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry, Web Platform
In Partnership With
Forensis
Summary
Asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea are intercepted within Greek waters or arrested after they arrive on Greek shores, beaten, stripped of their possessions, and then forcefully loaded onto life rafts and left to drift back to the Turkish coast. FA/Forensis verified and mapped evidence for over 2000 such ‘drift-backs’, demonstrating the scale of this violent and illegal border defence practice.

I.95  The Pylos Shipwreck

Date of Incident
13 Jun 2023 – 14 Jun 2023
Location
Mediterranean Sea, Greece
Forums
Media, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
On 14 June 2023, a boat carrying hundreds of migrants sank inside the Greek search and rescue zone in the Mediterranean Sea—the deadliest migrant shipwreck in recent history. Our digital reconstruction of the boat and mapping of its trajectory reveal inconsistencies in the Hellenic Coast Guard’s (HCG) account and indicate that over 600 people drowned as the result of a failed towing by the HCG.

SP.91  Fire in Moria Refugee Camp · Supported Project ↗

Date of Incident
08 Sep 2020
Location
Lesvos, Greece
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Lawyers for the Moria 6
Summary
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.78  Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: The Case of Parvin

Date of Incident
01 Feb 2020
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greek-Turkish border
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report, Media
Commissioned By
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
Summary
At Europe’s southeastern river border, migrants report being beaten, detained, and illegally ‘pushed back’ to Turkey from Greece by unidentified masked men. Greek and EU authorities refuse to investigate. We worked with Parvin, a young woman from Iran, to analyse evidence she had gathered during her crossings and reconstruct her journey and experiences of ‘pushback’.

I.62  Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: Situated Testimony

Date of Incident
01 Oct 2016
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greek-Turkish border
Forums
Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
HumanRights360
Summary
At Europe’s southeastern river border, migrants report being beaten, detained, and illegally ‘pushed back’ to Turkey from Greece by unidentified masked men. Greek and EU authorities refuse to investigate. We used architectural and gaming software to gather evidence that proves the practice is widespread and systematic.

The Case of Kuzey: Evidence

Date
19.10.2020
Summary
The case of Kuzey.

The Case of Fady: Evidence

Date
19.10.2020
Summary
The case of Fady.

I.61  The Killing of Muhammad al-Arab

Date of Incident
02 Mar 2020
Location
Evros/Meriç river delta
Forums
Legal Process, Media, Parliamentary Inquiry
In Partnership With
Self-Initiated
Summary
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.59  Pushbacks in Melilla: ND and NT v. Spain

Date of Incident
13 Aug 2014
Location
Melilla, Spain
Forums
Legal Process, Media
In Partnership With
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
Summary
The case of ND and NT v. Spain was the first trial at the European Court of Human Rights to address pushbacks at Europe’s land borders. The Court’s decision to acquit Spain was based on a gross distortion of facts. Using data from asylum applications and spatial analysis, we demonstrate that no legal routes to ask for protection are available to Black migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa.

I.55  The Killing of Muhammad Gulzar

Date of Incident
04 Mar 2020
Location
Kastanies/Pazarkule border crossing, Evros/Meriç region
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
Bellingcat, Lighthouse Reports
Summary
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
Summary
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.51  Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: The case of Ayşe Erdoğan

Date of Incident
04 May 2019 – 05 May 2019
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greece/Turkey
Forums
Legal Process, Media
In Partnership With
HumanRights360
Summary
Ayşe Erdoğan crossed the Evros/Meriç river into Greece in 2019, fleeing persecution in Turkey. She and two friends recorded their journey. Using messages, location data, photos, and videos, we confirmed they had reached Greece before being ‘pushed back’, and arrested and imprisoned in Turkey.

I.49  Privatised Push-Back of the Nivin · Forensic Oceanography

Date of Incident
01 Nov 2018
Location
Central Mediterranean
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Five months after Italy began to close its ports to migrants rescued at sea, a vessel carrying 93 people was spotted in the southern Mediterranean. The Italian and Libyan Coast Guards enlisted a private merchant ship to rescue the migrants and forcefully return them to Libya. Using tracking data and testimonies, Forensic Oceanography exposed a new mode of privatised border security.

I.50  Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: Analysis of video evidence

Date of Incident
17 Sep 2019
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greece/Turkey border
Forums
Legal Process, Media
In Partnership With
Der Spiegel, HumanRights360
Summary
At southeastern Europe’s river border, refugees report being beaten, detained, and illegally ‘pushed back’ to Turkey from Greece by unidentified masked men. Working with Der Spiegel, we analysed the first footage of a pushback in progress, and tried to identify those responsible.

I.32  Sea Watch vs the Libyan Coastguard · With Forensic Oceanography

Date of Incident
06 Nov 2017
Location
Mediterranean Sea
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
When the Libyan coastguard interrupted a rescue operation by the NGO Sea Watch, at least twenty migrants lost their lives, and more were ‘pulled back’ to inhumane detention in Libya. Forensic Oceanography shone a light on the practices of a coastguard funded and trained by the Italian government.

I.31  The Seizure of the Iuventa · With Forensic Oceanography

Date of Incident
02 Aug 2017
Location
Mediterranean Sea
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
The Iuventa has rescued over ten thousand people from the Mediterranean since it began operating in 2016. When the vessel was impounded by Italian authorities under suspicion of collusion with people smugglers, we used video evidence and meteorological data to refute the allegations.

I.17  Death By Rescue: The lethal effects of non-assistance at sea · Forensic Oceanography

Date of Incident
12 Apr 2015 – 18 Apr 2015
Location
Mediterranean Sea
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Changing EU policies toward the rescue of migrants resulted in over a thousand deaths in the Mediterranean in the space of one week. Working with survivors and available shipping data, we recreated the incidents and explored the consequences of making rescue vessels out of commercial ships.

I.4  The Left-to-Die Boat · Forensic Oceanography

Date of Incident
27 Mar 2011 – 10 Apr 2011
Location
Mediterranean Sea
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
A migrants’ boat was left drifting for two weeks in NATO-monitored waters, its presence known to the Italian coastguard and other nearby vessels. Sixty-three people died. Using an array of sensing technologies—thermal cameras, radar, and tracking—Forensic Oceanography mapped the path of the boat.