Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years In A Desert Jail (1999) (original title in French: "La Prisonnière" or "The Prisoner") is an autobiographical book by Malika Oufkir, about a woman who was essentially a prisoner until she was 38. Summary. The book contains three major parts: As the right-hand man of king Hassan II in the 1960s and early 1970s, Oufkir led government supervision of politicians, unionists and the religious establishment. He forcefully repressed political protest through police and military clampdowns, pervasive government espionage, show trials, and numerous extralegal measures such as killings  and forced disappearances. A feared figure in dissident circles, he was considered extraordinarily close to power. One of his victims is believed to have been Mehdi Ben Barka, who was "disappeared" in Paris in 1965. A French court convicted him of the murder. In 1967, Oufkir was named interior minister, vastly increasing his power through direct control over most of the security establishment. After a failed republican military coup in 1971 he was named chief of staff and minister of defense, and set about purging the army and promoting his personal supporters. His domination of the Moroccan political scene was  now near-complete, with the king ever more reliant on him to contain mounting discontent. The following year, he turned on the monarchy, ordering the Moroccan air force to open fire at the king's jet and organizing a takeover on the ground. Hassan survived, however, and some sources indicate he shot Oufkir after securing power. The official line, however, was and is that Oufkir committed suicide upon hearing of the coup's failure The book was banned in Morocco, but it is now reportedly available.