Artwork featuring sounds of Syrian prison nominated for UK art prize

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a 34 year old artist living in Beirut, used sound effects to help six survivors of the Saydnaya Prison "recall their audio memories, to map the unknown architecture of the prison and to understand what happened there", the Turner Prize judges said.

His interviews were part of an investigation by Amnesty International and research organisation Forensic Architecture. They were mixed with re-enacted whispers representing prisoners' experience in the Saydnaya Prison.

Amnesty International said as many as 13,000 people were hanged between 2011 and 2015 at the military-run prison near Damascus. Reports by Syrian activists said 95 more people were executed there on Tuesday.

In May 2017 the US said that Damascus had built a "crematorium" at Saydnaya to cover up thousands of prisoner deaths.

The Assad regime has detained hundreds of thousands of activists and civilians since March 2011, when protests against the regime began. Many were tortured to death or executed.

The Turner Prize shortlist features three other artists, including Helen Cammock, nominated for a film on the role of women in the civil rights movement in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry during the 1960s.

An exhibition with the works of all four nominated artists will open in September at the Turner Contemporary gallery in the seaside town of Margate in south-eastern England.

The winner of the prize, which is open to artists born or based in Britain, will be announced on December 3 this year.