Acre Prison
The Acre Prison also known as Akko Prison is a former prison and current museum in ‘Akká, Israel.
The citadel was built during the Ottoman period over the ruins of a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The Ottomans used it at various times as a government building, prison, army barracks, and arms warehouse.[1]
One prison cell was occupied for some months by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and members of his family, who were exiled to Ottoman Syria in 1868. The cell is now a site of pilgrimage for Bahá'is making a wider pilgrimage to the Bahá'i shrines in Haifa, ‘Akká and Bahjí. Its restoration was completed in June 2004.[2]
In the time of the British Mandate the citadel in the old city of ‘Akká was used as a prison in which many Arabs were imprisoned as criminals or for participating in the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Around 140 prisoners were executed during the Palestinian general strike alone.
In total, the prison contained 700 Arab prisoners and 90 Jewish prisoners.
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