Worst years in jail

She grew up in a political environment; she followed up the news in the Middle East, and sympathized a lot with the war in Algeria and Palestine. She used to and follow all the events in those countries in this period through 'Al Hakika' 'Al Rakeeb', 'Al Zaman' newspapers, which were very popular at that time. She was imprisoned for four years after she joined the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. This is Fatima Mohamed, one of the political prisoners during  the era of the Libyan ousted president Muammar Gaddafi.  Fatima has given an exclusive interview to 'Arabstoday' about her experience during Gaddafi’s period. Fatima started by saying: "I was a student in the faculty of agriculture, but I moved to Beirut to study there, then I came back to Benghazi, and followed eagerly the war in Algeria and Palestine. My first appearance was in the events of April 7th ,1979, , when Gaddafi’s forces shot and execute students. After these events, I decided a long with my sister to join the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, and that is the reason why I was imprisoned all these years. Unfortunately, they got our names through an office in Morocco, I expected to get arrested, but not in this way; they came to my work place, and did not inform my family or my husband that I was arrested." Fatima remembered  the years she spent in prison with sorrow:" I spent about 4 years in prison, and they  were the worst years of my life. The  and worst  punishment you can ever get is to be put in a solitary confinement. And that was the best thing they choose to punish us. Interrogation would take place inside the cell at a very late time in the night. They used to bring dogs with them during the questioning in order to question  you in a provocative way. They used to wait for any any reaction from us, so they leave the  dog to attack us. It is the same treatment for every political prisoner man or woman, they put nylon bags on our faces and handcuffs on our hands for days.  We were suffering from the bad food system, Nonexistent health care and living in dark rooms, while we were not allowed any visits for four years." Fatima's contacts with outside world were cut off then, "people were worried and scared to risk their lives, all my friends stay away from me, I can justify why they did so. But I Thank God for my husband's family who stood by my side".  She added: "I was very happy when I returned to my daughter whom I left when she was only one and a half year old, I was also very pleased when I saw my parents, it was such a nice feeling, as I have never expected to be released and see them again. Thank God for everything.” Fatima said that she participated in many charity activities during the revolution of February 17, and she said that: "I hope to go Zahiba area on the Tunisian border, to help the Libyans there, I participated also in the purification committee for volunteer work with Mr. Khaled Ghoka, and I am currently working on a program specialized on the displaced people, to teach women the Holy Quran.” Fatima is now 57 year old, and still wants to continue her studies, to achieve her ambitions. She concluded by saying: “I pray to God to bless this revolution, and ask God to unite us, and help us not to make quick judgments on the current officials and give them excuses before judging them, in order to live untied in one country without any tribal distinction.”