Leila Djabali (born 1933) was an Algerian intellectual and poet, who was imprisoned and tortured by the French colonial authorities during the
Algerian War of Independence.
Her poem, ''Pour mon tortionnaire, le Lieutenant D..'' (''For My Torturer, Lieutenant D...'', 1957), written while imprisoned at the Barberousse Prison in
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, vividly portrays multiple rapes in prison, and ends by describing the gentle everyday life of the torturer.
The poem has been anthologized in ''Women Poets of the World'' (1983), ''The Heinemann Book of African Women’s Poetry'' (1995), and ''Fire in the Soul: 100 Poems for Human Rights'' (2009).
References
1929 births
Living people
Algerian women poets
20th-century Algerian poets
21st-century Algerian people
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