Florence Aubenas press conference

Florence Aubenas press conference

Report on the press conference of journalist Florence AUBENAS. The former hostage details the conditions of his captivity in Iraq. Commentary on factual images. [Source: France 3 documentation] Florence Aubenas detailed the conditions of her detention until her release. "Life began in this cellar as it was, as it will be all this time... A life in a cellar what is it? So it’s very long to live and very short to tell. What I was doing was counting... I counted the days, I counted the minutes, I counted the beams on the ceiling, I counted everything. I also counted steps and a life in a cellar, it’s 24 steps a day. 24 steps is going to the toilet twice a day and coming back... If you move away from the mattress, even if you move too much on your mattress, it causes a friction with the titanic tracksuit. It makes frot frot frot frot frot like that and it’s already a lot... several times I was punished because I moved too much on the bed". A man is in detention with her. He is Hussein Hanoun, her guide, but Florence does not know. They have a formal ban on communication. "... I said no, I didn’t speak. They said if you spoke to this man, we heard you. You asked him where Hussein is... I said ah no, I didn’t ask! They told me if yes, you asked him where Hussein is. So I said no. The guy across the way, I heard him deny it. We didn’t speak very much like each other. They took us out of the cellar and beat us". To the question "have you experienced real periods of total discouragement", Florence Aubenas answers with a laugh: "Never"!

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File : Florence Aubenas

Publication date : 14 June 2005