Student Says He Was Detained in Zimbabwe

After that, "I was confident that if people knew I was there, the situation would improve," Bakshi said.

It did not at first, however. Initially, Bakshi said, he was taken to a bare holding cell, covered with graffiti left by previous inmates, phrases such as, "Please get me out of here," he said.

After one night, he was moved to a larger jail, where about 120 prisoners were squeezed in among flea-infested mattresses and overflowing toilets. By this time, however, Bakshi said his case had made it to the embassy, which he said sent officials to assure him he would eventually be released.

The news also had made it back to the District, where Bakshi's parents -- both doctors -- live near Sibley Memorial Hospital.

"The first few moments were of panic and of 'My God, what's happening to my boy!' " said his mother, Gita Chopra Bakshi, a pulmonologist. "Then it was a job to do, which was we have to go over there and get him back."

His parents flew to Harare, made connections with local lawyers and eventually had the charges dropped. Bakshi spent a few days in Washington, then returned to Harvard on Wednesday. He said he probably will not be going back to Zimbabwe "for a while."

He said, however, that he intends to write about his experience, on behalf of the many people he met who are probably still in jail. Bakshi recalled one of his fellow inmates, who told him, "in your thesis, make sure to write about all the good things that you saw here with us."

"Then there's sort of this dot-dot-dot . . . and [he] says, 'And be sure to tell them how bad the situation is, too,' " Bakshi said.