France – Le Monde, July 01, 2025
By bombing Evin prison, Israel destroyed a place of terror as much as a beacon of hope, since many dissidents were incarcerated there, writes Louis Arnaud, who was detained there for two years, in an op-ed for Le Monde.
Not a breath rises from the walls of Evin prison, annihilated under the blind crash of Israeli bombs. How could it? There is no longer water, infirmary, administration, or guard post. The great door, once so feared, pulverized, dissolved into the air. The first two floors of wing 4, that of political prisoners, were blown away by the explosion. The guard post, destroyed.
Just like the library, this treasure of knowledge patiently accumulated, book by book, over decades of resistance. The works of Plato and Aristotle, verses of Persian poets, classical literature, swept away, buried under rubble. Even The Little Prince, the only book in French, the one that welcomed me like a friend when I emerged from the hell of section 209, now lies under the debris.
Among the dead are some of the worst interrogators, architects of torture and humiliation. They will not be missed. And yet, should we rejoice at their loss? Do they not also leave behind mothers, children, grieving faces? No political prisoner wished for their death. We do not offer them our hatred. We give them our pity.
