Mayada- Daughter of Iraq touched me: and how!

“Greed seems to attach itself to cruelty.” –Mayada

Mayada- Daughter of Iraq is a heart-wrenching tale of a woman’s fight for survival in Saddam’s prisons when he ruled the country with an iron hand.

Saddam, as the world knows, led the Baath Party and became the President of Iraq in 1979. He was sick: a megalomaniac who was paranoid about his own security and suspicious of every human being, including his family members. This led him to commit countless inhuman acts, including waging wars against Iraq’s neighbours - Iran and Kuwait.

The book primarily focuses on the miserable and terrible lives the poor Iraqis are forced to live whether outside or inside his prisons.

The protagonist, Mayada Al - Askari, belonged to a rich and highly influential family. The extent of how influential the family was can be seen from how powerful her grandparents from both sides of her family were. Loyalty towards, and love for, the country was the hallmark of Mayada’s forefathers. Mayada, a single mother of two young kids, and an independent working woman was, like many Iraqis, arrested and thrown into prison (Cell 52), on the mere suspicion of printing anti-government pamphlets - no trial, no proofs.

It was then that Mayada’s life took a turn for the worse - from being a happy mother and a proud Iraqi to becoming a victim of ruthless torture sessions in Cell 52 of Baladiyat. In that cell she came across cellmates dark as shadows who, just like her, had been imprisoned and tortured regularly.

As I read through the book it was extremely disturbing to know how people, men and women alike, were beaten mercilessly: their nails pulled out, electric prods used to hurt them, beaten black and blue till their bodies were one open wound.  Sodomy and rape was common! And all of this, just to make them confess to things they’d not done! Some, rather than face prolonged torture, confessed. The end result? Immediate execution. Others went through the torture and even died in the process. While in prison, each breath was a torture and there seemed no hope of release. Mayada herself had lost all hope the moment she saw ‘52’. It brought back painful memories linked to the number. “I will never get out of this” was her sentiment. The cell door seemed to scream, “All hope abandon ye who enter here.” Paragraph after paragraph seemed to let out cries of pain and suffering, screaming for sympathy and hoping for justice.

The book very powerfully expresses the deep bond that bound the tortured women of Cell 52. Though strangers, their common fate brought them together in care and concern.

Among others, the one aspect that touched me like no other was the person of Samara. An extraordinary shadow woman, she easily befriended her cellmates and was immensely kind to all. Her strong intuition of Mayada’s eventual release prompted her to enthuse Mayada not to lose hope but hang in there.

I was touched by the final section of the book when Mayada, a free woman now in Amman, writes to Samara hoping she has survived Baladiyat now that Saddam had lost all power.

Unlike Jean Sassoon’s Princess Trilogy which was based on the aggressive male dominance in Saudi Arabian society, Mayada- Daughter of Iraq describes a woman’s struggle for survival in her beloved homeland - Iraq. While my heart reaches out to the victims of injustice and oppression, I appreciate the sheer courage and determination of the author who explored the lives of people in patriarchal and/or authoritarian societies, and wrote about it. I congratulate her and look forward to reading her other works.

The book demonstrates how a megalomaniac is least bothered about human dignity in his lust for power. Indeed, greed seems to attach itself to cruelty. A poignant tale that touches the cord of pity and sympathy, and makes one desperately thank the Almighty for his/her state. 

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