Gaddafi's Harem: The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in LibyaOpen Road + Grove/Atlantic, 2013 M09 3 - 272 pages This international bestseller is a “horrifying inside look at the lives of Libyan women under the Gaddafi regime . . . Powerful and compelling” (Booklist, starred review). Soraya was just fifteen, a schoolgirl in the coastal town of Sirte, when she was given the honor of presenting a bouquet of flowers to Colonel Gaddafi, “the Guide,” on a visit he was making to her school the following week. This one meeting—a presentation of flowers, a pat on the head from Gaddafi—changed Soraya’s life forever. Soon afterwards, she was summoned to Bab al-Azizia, Gaddafi’s palatial compound near Tripoli, where she joined a number of young women who were violently abused, raped, and degraded by Gaddafi. Heart-wrenchingly tragic but ultimately redemptive, Soraya’s story is the first one of many that are just now beginning to be heard. But sex and rape remain the highest taboo in Libya, and women like Soraya (whose identity is protected by a pseudonym here) risk being disowned or even killed by their dishonored family members. In Gaddafi’s Harem, an instant bestseller on publication in France, Le Monde special correspondent Annick Cojean gives a voice to Soraya’s story, and supplements her investigation into Gaddafi’s abuses of power through interviews with people who knew Soraya, as well as with other women who were abused by Gaddafi. “A moving and disturbing wake-up call to the personal costs of totalitarianism.” —Publishers Weekly |
Contents
Prisoner | |
Bab alAzizia 4 Ramadan | |
Harem | |
Africa | |
Hicham | |
In Sorayas Footsteps | |
Libya Khadija Leila and So Many More | |
The Amazons | |
The Predator | |
Master of the Universe | |
Mansour | |
Accomplices and Providers | |
Mabrouka | |
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African Ahmed Ramadan airport Amal G anymore Arab asked Azizia Bab al-Azizia basement Bedouin bedroom Benghazi bodyguards brother called Cécilia Sarkozy cell phone Colonel Colonel Gaddafi cousin dance daughter Department of Protocol didn’t door dressed driver euros everything eyes face Facebook Farida Fatiha felt female Galina gave guards Guide Guide’s hand head Hicham Houda International Criminal Court Jalal Kalashnikov Khadija knew later laughing Leila Libya living look Mabrouka makeup Mama married master military minister Misrata morning mother Muammar Gaddafi Najah never Niger night Papa Muammar parents Paris pick prison Ramadan raped rebels revolution revolutionary Salma sexual Sirte slut smile smoke Soraya stay story talk television tell thought told took Tripoli Tuareg Tunisian victims waiting wanted Warda watching wearing whore wife wives woman women young girls