Ennadhour, one of Tunisia's most gruesome prisons located near the northern town of Bizerta, will soon house a national museum, the official TAP press agency reported Monday.

With its cells dug in the humid rock two meters under the ground, the prison has hosted hundreds of detainees, some of whom were sentenced for political reasons under the country's former regimes.

"This prison arouses sad memories," Tunisian Minister of Justice Noureddine Bhiri said.

"For the past 50 years many Tunisians, regardless of their regional origins or political affiliations, have resisted to the dictatorship in the prison," the minister told a group of journalists, rights activists and former political prisoners who were invited to tour the prison.

According to Bhiri, the decision to transform the prison into a national museum demonstrates a commitment to "move away from dictatorship and terrorism."