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SALEH SNOUSSI Abu Saleem’s Prison A CHAPTER FROM A NOVEL TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM M. HUTCHINS Aweek after the massacre, there was a departure from the status quo at the prison office. Although it was not dangerous, it had not been anticipated. For this reason, Colonel al-Jibali and his deputies requested clear instructions from the authorities on how to deal with it because the time for the regular visits by prisoners’ relatives was at hand. The relatives visited at the end of every month, bringing food stuffs and clothes that they delivered to the office, which took charge of distributing some of these items to the prisoners by referring to the names written on the parcels. Although the families of the prisoners were not allowed to see them, they considered permission to bring food to the prison to be a positive step, since they knew that prisoners suffered – among other problems – from malnutrition and that they needed clothes in winter, since the prison did not provide the typical prison uniforms for its inmates. For this reason, these families had persisted in bringing supplies, after obtaining permission three years earlier for what was technically termed their monthly visit. During the last week of each month, the outer courtyard of the prison was crowded with such visitors, coming from various regions of Libya. They brought parcels that they hoped would be passed on to their relatives among the prisoners. In view of the prison office’s inability to receive these great numbers at a single time, the administration had established a system to remedy the anarchy and confusion. So the visitors began to schedule their visits according to this system, which allocated the days of the week to the different cities and regions from which the visitors came. Saturday and Sunday were reserved for the cities of Derna, Tobruk and Al-Bayda; Monday and Tuesday were for the city of Benghazi and its environs. Wednesday was for the city of Ajdabiya and adjacent areas and Thursday was set aside for all of Libya’s other cities and regions, including Tripoli. 68 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
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Even though it was impossible for the prisoners’ families to know whether the supplies they delivered to the prison office reached the prisoners expecting them or not, as there was no communication between families and prisoners, they continued what they referred to as their “monthly visit”. Meanwhile, the prison administration, which was headed by Colonel al-Jibali, took possession of half of the goods, especially items in demand on the market.These goods were laundered through intermediaries who sold them in the markets and then split the proceeds with Colonel al-Jibali and his deputies – men like Sergeant al-Hadi Ammar and Chief Corporal Sahban alGamoudi. The plan worked brilliantly thanks to the smooth-running system set up by the office, which aspired to the wisdom of equitable division of these goods with the prisoners.The massacre that had taken place the previous week, however, had created a new situation, since over a thousand prisoners had died. Their families would arrive in a few days, bringing goods and materials that the prison office could not dispose of without the permission of the supreme agencies which BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 69

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SALEH SNOUSSI

Abu Saleem’s Prison A CHAPTER FROM A NOVEL TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM M. HUTCHINS

Aweek after the massacre, there was a departure from the status quo at the prison office. Although it was not dangerous, it had not been anticipated. For this reason, Colonel al-Jibali and his deputies requested clear instructions from the authorities on how to deal with it because the time for the regular visits by prisoners’ relatives was at hand. The relatives visited at the end of every month, bringing food stuffs and clothes that they delivered to the office, which took charge of distributing some of these items to the prisoners by referring to the names written on the parcels. Although the families of the prisoners were not allowed to see them, they considered permission to bring food to the prison to be a positive step, since they knew that prisoners suffered – among other problems – from malnutrition and that they needed clothes in winter, since the prison did not provide the typical prison uniforms for its inmates. For this reason, these families had persisted in bringing supplies, after obtaining permission three years earlier for what was technically termed their monthly visit.

During the last week of each month, the outer courtyard of the prison was crowded with such visitors, coming from various regions of Libya. They brought parcels that they hoped would be passed on to their relatives among the prisoners. In view of the prison office’s inability to receive these great numbers at a single time, the administration had established a system to remedy the anarchy and confusion. So the visitors began to schedule their visits according to this system, which allocated the days of the week to the different cities and regions from which the visitors came. Saturday and Sunday were reserved for the cities of Derna, Tobruk and Al-Bayda; Monday and Tuesday were for the city of Benghazi and its environs. Wednesday was for the city of Ajdabiya and adjacent areas and Thursday was set aside for all of Libya’s other cities and regions, including Tripoli.

68 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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