The sad tale of the laughing cab driver

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Moustafa Chamseddine was one of thousands of people who were disappeared during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s. For many years his family didn’t know where he was. Moustafa had ended up in Syria’s notorious Tadmur jail. But there, even torture couldn’t quell his spirits, and he used humour to help him and his fellow inmates survive their ordeal. Lizzie Porter went to meet Moustafa in Beirut where he now works as a taxi driver. Image: Moustafa Chamseddine Credit: Leila Molana-Allen