Mayada DAUGHTER OF IRAQ One Woman's Survival in Saddam Hussein's Torture Jail

• Main Author: Sasson, Jean P. (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London BANTAM BOOKS 2004; ©2003
• Subjects: Al-Askari, Mayada > 1955-; Baladiyat (Prison); Women political prisoners > Biography > Iraq; Women > Social conditions > Saudi Arabia; Iraq > History > 1979-1991; Iraq > History > 1991-2003
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Mayada was born into a powerful Iraqi family. One grandfather fought alongside Lawrence of Arabia. The other is acclaimed as the first true Arab nationalist. Her uncle was Prime Minister for nearly 40 years, and her mother was an important politician. When Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party seized power and instituted his reign of terror, Mayada found herself alone in Baghdad, a divorced parent of two children, earning a meagre living printing brochures. Until one morning in August 1999, she was summarily arrested and dragged to the notorious Baladiyat Prison, falsely accused of printing anti-government propaganda. There, she was thrown into a cell with 17 "shadow women.". Like latter-day Sherezades, these women passed their days while waiting for the next interrogation and torture session, telling each other their stories. They were eager to hear Mayada's stories of her privileged former life, of the history of her proud family, of kings and queens, and of meetings with Saddam himself