Libyan woman bursts into hotel to tell her story of rape

belimom

Speak the truth even if your voice shakes~M.Kuhn
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I know there is as thread on Libya in the political forum about Libya in general right now, but I thought this story deserved it's on thread (ETA: as a crime, not a political issue...). Just awful... :no:

Libyan woman bursts into hotel to tell her story of rape


Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Breakfast at a Tripoli hotel housing international journalists took a decidedly grim turn Saturday when a desperate Libyan woman burst into the building frantic to let the world know she had been raped and beaten by Moammar Gadhafi's militia.

Her face was heavily bruised. So were her legs. She displayed blood on her right inner thigh.

....snip....

Security men said al-Obeidy was "mentally ill" and was being taken to a "hospital." They dragged her unceremoniously to a waiting white car.

More at http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/26/libya.beaten.woman/index.html?hpt=C1
 
the journalists were wrestled to the ground and had their cameras smashed, also someone pulled a gun and a hotel worker pulled a knife.... sounds like complete chaos...
At least her story is "out there". Which is seems like she was trying to do :(
 
She's in Wikipedia! Bless her heart!! :-(

And if she was "drunk"... Wouldn't it have been at the hands of the 15 men that held her captive & raped her for 2 days!?!?

At an improvised press-conference held later on the same day, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said that investigators had found Obeidi "drunk and possibly mentally challenged,"[1] – a suggestion that raised fears that she would face an indefinite incarceration in a government-controlled mental institution,[2] continuing the list of forced disappearances the opposition charges the Gadhafi regime with.[2

H*ll, why would that even matter, if 15 men held me captive & raped me for 2 days, yeah, I think that a drink would sound nice & would probably give me the courage I needed to tell my story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eman_al-Obaidi

She went on to say that she had been tied up, urinated and defecated on, and raped by 15 men.[1][4] She also pleaded for friends still in custody.[3]

I know that things are different over there, I just wish that women around the world weren't labeled as drunks, or mentally challenged for coming forward when a crime has been committed against them.

I hope she's alive. I really do. And, I hope they find the friends that she is speaking of!!!
 
They let her be taken away?

They couldn't do anything. The press is not allowed to leave that hotel without official gov't escorts. When it happened, some members of the media were attacked, cameras taken, etc. CNN's camera was smashed. They basically didn't want any pictures/recordings of it to be released, obviously. But the press members there were completely powerless...

ETA: From my original link above:

Security forces moved to subdue the woman. Even a member of the hotel's kitchen staff drew a knife. "Traitor!" he shouted at her in contempt. Another staffer tried to put a dark tablecloth over her head.

One government official, who was there to facilitate access for journalists, pulled a pistol from his belt. Others scuffled with the journalists, manhandling them to the ground in an attempt to wrestle away their equipment. Some journalists were beaten and kicked. CNN's camera was confiscated and deliberately smashed beyond repair.
 
This is so disturbing. I can't stand to think about what will happen to that poor woman now. Thank goodness that little snippet of tape was spared. She has a face, and the world has seen it. The image adds to the impact of the story. It might aid in pumping up the pressure against the Libyan government to ensure her safekeeping. :praying:
 
My heart is breaking. Where is she now?
 
Thank you belimom-I realize the reposters were manhandled. I am just trying to make sense-a room full of international press/journalists including a crew from CNN...they were manhandled and their equipment smashed.

Honestly, and I am just saying this from a place of frustration and rage, did they think that there was a chance these folks would massacre a group of international journalists had they decided they would not let her be taken? I am just asking.

ETA: If these journalists could not ensure the safety of one Libyan who had the courage to step forward, well I would say that Momar just scored a really big point with his people. I am not blaming them-I just think Momar showed the world who has the final say here.

I hope that changes.
 
I agree that she likely is no longer alive. I hope that the end came quickly, as that's the only possible thing I can realistically hope for. I am sure she knew the risk of telling her story, and I hope she is at peace.
 
Wow, you know, that Wikipedia article has been updated since I last saw it yesterday, which is when I think it went up.. It now states that Eman al-Obaidi is a Libyan lawyer, which was not on there yesterday.

Seems a far cry away from hinting that someone is a prostitute! (Please see article below)

It was also updated to state:

A government spokesperson initially claimed that Obeidi was drunk and possibly mentally ill,[3][4] but later admitted that she was sane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eman_al-Obaidi

I am holding onto hope that she's alive.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...im-opens-rare-window-into-regime-2254752.html

The pretty waitress, friendly enough during her normal duties, was the one who picked up the table knife and threatened the distraught woman with it, shouting that she was a "traitor" to Muammar Gaddafi; the gentle giant, or so it seemed, who made the extra effort to get mobile phone top-up cards when we had been stopped from leaving the hotel, turned suddenly into a heavy, part of a posse determined to silence the weeping Ms al-Obaidi.

This was almost as chilling as the bunch of thuggish central casting plain-clothes security men and "minders" who quickly mobilised across the restaurant to try not only to detain Ms al-Obaidi but to keep the press away from her.

It was a mean-looking operative, in a three-quarter-length leather coat, who pulled out a handgun – which he did not shoot or fire – within a metre of a television reporter; it was an even meaner-looking leather-jacketed agent who threatened Channel 4 News's Jonathan Miller – who had already been punched once – and it was yet another of their colleagues who smashed a CNN camera.

But this was not really about the press; it was much more about the way in which Ms al-Obaidi's at times intensely physical struggle – brave, desperate or both – to tell a story opened a rare window on the way the state operates when it believes it may have something to hide.

Libyan officials who subsequently stressed that Ms al-Obaidi's complaints were now the subject of a "normal criminal investigation", have hinted without evidence that she might be a prostitute and said that one of the men involved in the case may be the son of a high-ranking regime official.

But even if all this were true, there were infinitely more civilised ways, to put it mildly, of dealing with the fracas.
 
They are saying now that she is in fact alive, & is free with her family!
Tripoli - A Libyan woman, who rushed into a hotel to tell foreign journalists that Libyan troops had raped her, is free and with her family, the government said on Sunday.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/gaddafi-s-men-urinated-on-me-1.1047954

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/27/libya.beaten.woman/

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A Libyan woman who stormed into a Tripoli hotel Saturday, telling foreign reporters that she had been raped by government troops, has been released, and her case is being investigated, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Sunday.

The matter is "a criminal case against four individuals" who have an attorney, he said. Among those accused by Eman al-Obeidy is the son of a high-ranking official, he said. The general attorney is looking into the case.

The woman "hasn't committed, you know, any particular major offense," Ibrahim said. "She just entered a place she wasn't supposed to enter."

Lord, I hope that she is safe!!!

He said al-Obeidy and her family have been asked if they want to be interviewed by "one or two, preferably female, reporters to verify that she's fine, she's healthy, she's free with her family."

But Ibrahim refused to take further questions on the issue Sunday, noting that Libyan society is "very conservative."

CNN's Nic Robertson, who has been on the ground in Tripoli since February 27, cautioned against taking Ibrahim's statements as fact, noting that "oftentimes what he says doesn't match reality."

"We've been told by the government that she's with her family, but when we asked, 'Could we go and see them?' the government official said that would be up to the family," Robertson said, adding that journalists have indeed been in touch with the family, who have said they would grant permission to see al-Obeidy.
 
Great news! I'm still worried about her safety, however. I hope she doesn't mysteriously disappear or end up dead... Praying for her safety.
 
Great news! I'm still worried about her safety, however. I hope she doesn't mysteriously disappear or end up dead... Praying for her safety.

Me too. I agree with you 100%.

I really want for it to be true.
 
It is appalling how females are treated there when things like this happen. I hope she is indeed safely released but I doubt it. Why, in a hotel full of international journalists and these "minders" (thugs) are there no allied security personnel to protect them? They were left to try to protect the woman and themselves against these armed jerks! Of course something like this could easily happen there - where were our troops...or even just a private security detail??
 
Doesn't sound like she's out of trouble yet... Prayers for this brave woman.

Unfortunately I think it is far more likely that she is being pressured to recant. How terrified she must be now...after first having been brutalized and now likely having a military presence still around her...
 
I know there is as thread on Libya in the political forum about Libya in general right now, but I thought this story deserved it's on thread (ETA: as a crime, not a political issue...). Just awful... :no:

It is criminal, it is also political. I wish more was reported on how women are treated in Islamic countries. This is why elections are important...and what the goal actually is in Libya - an even more stringent Islamic ruling party, or a fairly secular dictator?
 
Bless this woman... This saddens me but doesn't surprise me.

I can't say that I'm surprised either...

Maybe I was just too hopeful on this one... Not sure why. Maybe because of all of the attention she drew to herself with the reporters; I figured, well certainly she'll be freed, everyone knows about what happened to her.

Bless her & her parents as well for standing up for her.

I hope there is a positive outcome for her, although I'm not sure as to what that may be.

I hope she gets justice without having to compromise herself any further.
 

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