On November 23rd 2017, Ziad Itani was arrested and accused of collaborating with an Israeli Mossad agent to plot the assassination of minister Nohad Machnouk and former minister Abdel Rahim Mrad, and it wasn’t until March 2018 that we learnt he was in fact a victim of false evidences. The whole thing turned out to have been arranged by the former head of the cybercrime bureau simply because he dared taking a screenshot of a tweet she liked.
A year later, and instead of emerging as a broken man, Ziad Itani collaborated with Khaled Soubeih to illustrate what he has gone through in a new play titled “W Ma Tallit Colette” that started showing last month at Metro Al Madina. I watched it on Tuesday and totally loved Itani’s performance in it.
Everyone knows the story, Ziad made several TV appearances to tell what really happened, and all the media outlets that originally bashed him for “being a traitor” have also later spoken about the truth. Still, watching the development of events on stage was captivating the whole time. You will be amazed at how a worthless and stupid evidence can lead the interrogators to extort a confession from Itani over something he never did, and the process will make you loathe the authorities.
Throughout the play, Ziad expresses everything he felt during detention, and he will make you understand how vulnerable can anyone get in a similar situation. One scene will even seriously stress you as Ziad tell about the thoughts that were going through his mind in his solitary confinement. Still, the play absolutely qualifies as a comedy and the cast will make you laugh during the whole two hours. The best of all though is that you will leave feeling that Ziad Itani emerged from this case as strong as he can be, an gave one big middle finger to the corrupt authorities and those who unlawfully wanted to put him behind bars.
Needless to say, I recommend you go watch it. You can check the showtimes on MetroMadina.com and book your tickets from AntoineTicketing.com.