The old Etonian, his president father and torture in an African jail

A behemoth covered in shimmering gold, the presidential palace sits on the seafront of Gabon’s capital, Libreville, looking more like a hotel in Las Vegas than the seat of a president. It was built in the 1970s by Omar Bongo at a reported cost of $250 million. As a child, Noureddin found the large, empty rooms and the abundance of security overwhelming. As an adult, it became a place where he survived nearly two years of psychological abuse and torture, squalid conditions and no contact with his family, including his three young children.