Time magazine published a translation of an interview first published in Italian in the Italian newspaper
La Stampa. Domenico Quirico's interview with Mabrouk took place on May 2, 2011—shortly after
US Navy SEALs had killed
Osama bin Laden, and Quirico asked him for his assessment of bin Laden. Mabrouk called bin Laden a "man of honor", and asserted "even his enemies should recognize that he deserved respect." During his interview he disputed the theory that he had been radicalized by devout Muslims while in Italian custody, prior to traveling to Afghanistan. He acknowledged that devout Muslims he met in jail helped him renew his own faith. He said his new faith had helped him quit using drugs. He said that, after his release, he gave up drug-dealing, and started working as a barber, and then as a delivery driver. He said that he applied for a legitimate visa, so he could continue living and working in Italy legally. Mabrouk said that the main reason he traveled to Afghanistan was that he feared if he continued trying to live in Italy he would be deported back to Tunis, where he would face further incarceration in brutal
Tunisian prisons. ==References==