Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYG. Path of Most Resistancewww.nytimes.com, 26 May 2009 *Memo From CairoWhy Freed Dissidents Pick Path of Most ResistanceBy MICHAEL SLACKMANCAIRO — When political dissidents who challenge authoritarianleaders are locked away in prison, when they are tortured and their familiesthreatened, the goal is to break their resolve, to crush their spirit, tosilence them.So how come so many get right back to it when they are finallyfreed? What compels them to fight on at the risk of great personal sacrifice?Last week, Fathi al-Jahmi died † a prisoner of Libya. He was a father,a husband, an older brother, a sharp critic of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.In 2004, after 18 months in prison, he was set free. But he was supposedto remain silent, to go home and vanish from public view. His familybegged him to comply. He refused.“He suffered so much, the torture, he really felt he had no choice,”said his younger brother, Mohamed Eljahmi, in a telephone interviewfrom his home in the United States.All across the Middle East, indeed the world, authoritarian governmentsuse the power of punishment to try to intimidate and silence.The practice may succeed as a deterrent, spreading fear among thosewho have not yet experienced the chill of a jail cell, the debasement of astrip search, the pain of electric shock.But for those who have already faced the worst, the threats oftenhave the reverse effect. In Iran, the state once jailed Emad Baghi ‡ forhis work against the death penalty and in support of prisoners’ rights. In*†‡Published online at www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/world/middleeast/27egypt.html on 26 May2009. A version of this article appeared in print on 27 May 2009, on page A6 of the New Yorkedition under the headline “Once Freed from Prison, Dissidents Often Continue to Resist”; sentencesomitted from print version in parentheses.www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/21/libya-libyan-dissident-long-imprisoned-deadwww.martinennalsaward.org/219