Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail
by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi
Malika Oufkir is the daughter of General Mohamed Oufkir, second in command of Morocco. In 1972 General Oufkir led a failed coup d‘état and was subsequently executed. His family was taken prisoner and held for 20 years.
Malika is the oldest daughter of General Oufkir. She was 19 at the time of the failed coup attempt. Initially, she and her four younger siblings, the youngest was just three years old, and her mother were placed under house arrest. After some time they were moved to a remote secret prison somewhere in the Sahara Desert where they remained for the next 15 years.
This is Malika’s memoir. She describes her life as a princess, raised in the palace of King Hassan of Morocco as his own daughter until she reached the age of 15. That was before the coup, however. It is those years of her imprisonment that she relates in gruesome detail. It is her escape, their escape, the escape of Malika and three of her siblings after 15 years in horrendous prison conditions that is remarkable. The imprisonment of a woman and her children for any reason is unthinkable. The fact that any of them could survive is miraculous, and somehow they all survive.
After reading this book I felt compelled to do the research. I could not believe that such atrocities could have existed while the world stood silent; it had to be historical fiction. However, this story is incredibly true.
As I See It 