SIXTEEN
On the seventh day of your imprisonment, an Italian prisoner was put in solitary confinement. The inmates didn’t know what to make of it. Italians were always imprisoned in prisons reserved for their kind alone. The man piqued your curiosity, especially because his attire indicated a man who belonged to a distinguished profession such as a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. So when you saw him walking by himself in the yard during the prisoners’ break, you decided to say hello and talk to him.
He welcomed you and when you introduced yourself as the former official responsible for Libyans’ complaints and petitions, he was astonished that someone like you was imprisoned here.
You learned he was a journalist who opposed his country’s policy of colonization. He had sneaked into Tripoli be
