Mohamed al Jundi was at the wheel when the now-liberated French journalists Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot were kidnapped in Iraq August 20, 2004. Separated from his comrades early in September, Mr. al Jundi was liberated by American Marines in mid-November, during the Fallujah offensive.

According to reports at the time, an unidentified Iraqi or Arab hostage was found in a Fallujah slaughterhouse, and quickly discovered to be the chauffeur of the French hostages. Today Mr. al Jundi is suing Lieutenant General John Sattler, commanding general of the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah, for mistreatment, torture, and barbarous acts. His lawyer Jacques Verges, who defended the Nazi Klaus Barbie and the arch-terrorist Carlos among others, is also purported to be a member of Saddam Hussein’s legal dream team.

In the complaint filed on December 17. Mr. al Jundi alleges that he was dragged half-naked and barefoot out of a house in Fallujah and force-marched to the base, though he told the soldiers that he was a hostage. He was thrown to the ground and kicked, made to kneel during long hours of interrogation, tortured with simulated executions, and transferred to another base where he was again mistreated, terrorized, and tortured by soldiers trying to get information about the insurgents.

They turned him over to civilian interrogators who teased him with electric shocks just for the fun of it and finally threw him out, still half-naked and barefoot, in the freezing cold, and left him to make his way from Alsaklauiya to Baghdad at the risk of his life.

It is hard to understand why an unfortunate hostage should be treated so badly when “X,” who admits to fraternizing with the insurgents, was found in similar circumstances, but treated kindly. After three months of captivity, trundled from one Islamic Army prison to another in Fallujah, “X” was suddenly told he would be set free. Don’t expect terrorists to keep their word; “X” was turned over to a new set of cruel jailers who shackled him in a prone position with his face to a wall, gave him cold greasy soup to break the Ramadan fast, and tormented him with interrogations and insults worse than blows. Destabilized by the American offensive, his tormentors dropped him off in a beautiful home requisitioned by a unit of fighters who went around unmasked.

They got along beautifully. “X” helped with the cooking and joined in all-night discussions that brought them closer. “X”‘s ideas went hand in glove with the insurgents: He asked for a weapon to fight by their side, and subsequently accompanied them in their escape all the way to the banks of the Euphrates. “X,” who cannot swim, stayed on the riverbank. He gave his new-found friends his address and invited them to visit him in Baghdad.

“X” wandered through war-torn Fallujah until he found refuge with two young men in an abandoned house, where they were soon discovered by American Marines. Though they were treated roughly, “X” said that he would have given the soldiers a million dollars for saving his life.

He endured a rather harsh one-hour interrogation by a sergeant major. Then a captain-interpreter came along, congratulated “X” on his liberation, and politely asked if he wouldn’t mind being photographed for the press. “X” wept for joy – his identity was known, he was saved. He spent two days in a hospital and five days in a prison, where he was questioned by the FBI, but didn’t suffer, because he knew his ordeal was over. An officer came to release him, apologized for arresting him in error, gave him $20, and wished him well. The soldiers couldn’t take him back to Baghdad because the road was not safe.

In one case American military personnel are accused of committing atrocities against a hapless victim of the Islamic Army. In the other case, an insurgent-sympathizer hostage is grateful to the Marines who saved his life.

The only problem is, both cases concern one and the same protagonist: Mohamed Al Jundi. The atrocities are detailed in the complaint filed in the court of Grand Instance. The rescue story is told in Mr. al Jundi’s own words, in an interview with Didier Francois (published in Liberation November 30).

What transformed the al Jundi, saved from the terrorist maw, into al Jundi, victim of torture at the hands of war criminals? Initial attempts to interview Maitre Verges, described by his assistant as a “venerated monument,” were met with friendly cooperation, hampered only by practical obstacles. Then, on the sixth telephone call, the assistant inquired about The New York Sun’s “orientation.”

“Oh? He won’t talk to me if he doesn’t know the orientation?” End of conversation. Consequently, the burning question – “What legal action has Mr. al Jundi taken against the Islamic Army of Iraq?” – will remain rhetorical.

The announced lawsuit has been met with an embarrassed silence. Extended searches have come up with no follow-up articles after the January 5 press conference that got split-second TV coverage. At the moment, attention is focused on Liberation’s correspondent in Iraq, Florence Aubenas, who has been missing since the morning of January 5.

Ms. Poller is a novelist living in Paris.