You may know who I am, especially after what happened in Addis Ababa the other day. But if you don't, my name is Renee Ajlani.

I come from a good family in Tangiers, with an older brother Pierre and a baby sister named Michelle. Educated at the Royal University in Jeddah under a royal scholarship. Got a graduate degree in Economics and worked for the Binladin Group for a few years as an accountant for their subsidiary in Africa. I enjoy feminine pursuits like sewing, weaving, and the like. But I also have an interest in history. Matter of fact, my favorite historical figure is Saladin.

So why am I in a boiling concrete jail cell in Addis Ababa?

Let me tell you a story.

When I was seven, my father found a job in Beirut. He's an engineer, and they were building a bridge over the Jordan River. This project, scheduled to be finished in two, would take twelve years due to red tape, supply difficulties, money, and other reasons which is irrelevant.

But I would need to go to school in the meantime. So naturally, I attended a local private school. Now while our family wasn't exactly poor, we weren't sultans. And this school was where the sons and daughters of sultans and millionaires go.

One time, these gang of boys were bullying me out of my lunch money, tearing up my schoolwork. I was scared. They were the older boys who apparently were related to the regional governor. However, another boy walking by went up to the leader and punched him in the face.

His face was bloodied, but challenged my savior nonetheless. Again, he was put down swiftly with another blow. A glare at the other boys and they ran like rabbits. I asked him for his name, and said his name is Bashar Said. I became good friends with him.

Bashar and I went our separate ways when we graduated. I pursued a career in economics, and he pursued a career in the military. And I became an accountant for a construction firm's subsidiary and he became a war hero.

Not long ago did Awwam find itself at war with China. And Colonel Bashar Said was there at the frontline. The Chinese Army managed to break through and his infantry battalion was surrounded on all sides. For seven days, the Chinese Army committed its might against beleaged Awwami force. Tanks, airplanes, and artillery struck the unit. But with his courage and leadership, they held on. And on the eight day, reinforcements arrived and his unit was relieved.

He was celebrated as a war hero, with medals awarded by the Caliph himself. And the Caliph decided to send him as an observer to the Paternian Army. And I was there to see him off.

When he returned three months later, we met up. And I could tell he was a different man from when he left. He spoke volumes about a faithless society which was rapidly rising in power and wealth, faster than us. A society forged from the icy realm of Antarctica, where man and woman, Christian and Muslim, rich and poor, are only judged by their abilities.

I know in Awwam, if you want to get anywhere, you gotta know people. People who are terrible at their job are gainfully employed because their father's cousin is some high-ranking officer in the company. And he saw just how far Paternia has gotten with this. We may be the world's envy today, but Paternia will surpass us if we don't modernize. But Awwam is so stubborn to change that they will simply fall by the wayside, overrun by states that can adapt like Paternia. He felt the only way Awwam can change is if something dramatic happened.

And so he launched a coup. I didn't think much of his comments about Paternia and that. To me, Paternia was a nation whose cowardly military forces deliberately avoid contact with our armies and raids and pillages like bandits. Their submarines preyed on civilian merchant ships and scurried away like rats when our Navy arrived.

The coup failed when they couldn't catch the Caliph and the overwhelming might of the Awwami Army crushed their attempt. I thought little of it other than a man who was indeed swayed by evil forces.

But as time went on, things like the mutaween were formed, which were supposed to enforce Islamic virtue and peace. But they were really hired thugs who beat up anyone who said anything bad about the Caliph. And when I saw them beat up a Christian woman because they thought her veil didn't cover enough of her, I knew I had to act. And peaceful protest didn't seem to be a solution to oppose a state whose use of violence is as liberal as Paternia's views.

It had to be a statement that only bullets can say. And as it turned out, I had an old gift from Colonel Said before he left for Paternia. It was a pistol taken from a dead Chinese officer, specifically a Paternian-made revolver. He never liked the Paternians before he went to Paternia. Matter of fact, he never liked them after he left, but he always noted the excellent reliability and durability of Paternian weapons. As he said "There's always something good in anything, even the Paternians. For all their flaws, they make guns that you know will work until the end of time. They will keep firing as long as there is ammunition to feed it."

And with this revolver, I bidden my time. I knew General Sadat was going to visit, and that he liked a certain coffee shop, one owned by by a Malay. He also was the man behind the backwardness of Awwam, according to Colonel Said. A man of great wealth and dogma, he was the man in charge of the mutaween. And now, was my target. Of course, with bodyguards around him.

It was a simple matter. I walked by and drew the revolver. Before they could do anything about me, I planted a bullet in his head, with additional bullets into his chest. With his brain splattered all over the concrete floor, I was certain he was dead. And the news simply confirmed it.

And as I sit in the stifling cell awaiting my fate, I knew that without him, there was nobody who can stop the people. Nobody who can stop the change that is necessary in Awwam.