Leila Djabali

Algerian poet Leila Djabali was imprisoned in Barberousse Prison in the 1950s for her involvement in the movement protesting French colonial rule in Algeria. She wrote the poem “For My Torturer, Lieutenant D…” while in prison. 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).