Libyan Woman Disappeared? (UPDATED)
Posted: March 26, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Libya, Violence against women | Tags: Eman al-Obeidy 33 Comments
Eman al-Obeidy displayed a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to come from binding around her hands and feet. (Jerome Delay/AP)
Some very disturbing footage and developments out of Tripoli this Saturday.
Warning: This is a very grim story and the footage is raw.
The New York Times reports that a Libyan woman is dragged off by government officials as she tries to tell journalists that she had been tied up, urinated and defecated on, and raped by 15 of Gaddafi’s men:
TRIPOLI, Libya — A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli on Saturday morning in an attempt to tell journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia. After struggling for nearly an hour to resist removal by Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces, she was dragged away from the hotel screaming.
[…]
She pleaded for friends she said were still in custody. “They are still there, they are still there,” she said. “As soon as I leave here, they are going to take me to jail.”
The NYT Lede has raw footage up here.
Lisa Holland filed this report from Tripoli for Sky News (post continues after youtube):
The bruises and injuries the woman showed to journalists match up with her story of being bound up, beaten, and raped.
From what I can make of the following reporting from Wapo and Forbes, Charles Clover of the Financial Times, one of the journalists attacked as he tried to intervene/report, had his recording device taken away by Gaddafi’s henchmen before he was deported. A CNN camera was also confiscated and the cameraman found himself at gunpoint when he tried to take it back.
“I was tied up. They defecated on me. They urinated on me. They violated my honor,” she said.
But as she spoke, hotel staff members, security guards and government minders closed in on her and began dragging her away. Journalists who tried to protect her were punched, and one, Charles Clover of the Financial Times, was knocked to the ground and kicked. Shortly afterward, Clover was deported after being informed at 2 a.m. that he would have to leave the country because the government didn’t like his reporting.
Two waitresses grabbed knives and screamed that the woman was a “traitor” to Gaddafi, and one threw a coat over her head in an effort to silence her. Government minders, who are assigned to supervise and supposedly protect journalists, snatched a CNN camera and smashed it, and one of them pulled a pistol when the cameraman tried to take it back.
Eventually the woman, screaming, “They are taking me to jail,” was hauled outside to an unmarked saloon car, which whisked her away at high speed.
In the ensuing chaos, reporters were beaten off and threatened as they tried to protect the woman and get her story, and hotel staff suddenly began working in tandem with security staff to get the woman off the premises. A reporter for the Financial Times had his recording device, which had recorded the woman’s testimony, wrested from him.
As Kiri Blakely goes on to report, Gaddafi’s regime is accusing the woman of being drunk and delusional:
The story is tragic and horrible, and I fear for the woman’s life. Adding yet another horrific, and all too common, element to the tale is that the woman’s testimony of sexual and physical abuse, reportedly backed up by physical evidence, was then dismissed as “fantasies” by the Libyan government. The government went on to say that the woman appeared “drunk” and “mentally ill.”
I will try to update this post or do a follow-up as more information becomes available.
UPDATE — Apparently Libyan government officials, now under media scrutiny and facing questions of where al-Obeidy is and how she is being treated, have referred to this as a case of rape — a shift from the ‘drunk and delusional’ narrative being pushed by the government earlier. Via Al Jazeera:
At a hastily arranged press conference following the incident, Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said investigators had told him that the woman was drunk and possibly mentally challenged.
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tripoli, said: “The government initially suggested that she was drunk … but when they [officials] came back to the journalists later to reassure them that she was being well cared for … they did describe this as a case of rape.”
Also, more details on what al-Obeidy told reporters about the men from Gaddafi’s militia who attacked her:
Before she was dragged out of the hotel, al-Obeidi was able to tell journalists that she was detained by a number of troops at a Tripoli checkpoint on Wednesday.
She said they were drinking whiskey and handcuffed her and that 15 men later raped her.
Here’s the Al Jazeera report via youtube posted at the link:
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I believe Eman al-Obeidy, over the propaganda driven dribble from the Gaddafi TV and his idea of news. Some on Twitter have said she, stated that her friends were still being held there, and she wanted to give a first person account of her ordeal and tell the world of what happened.
In Egypt, weeks after, we are just learning of the ‘Virginity’ exams, which were video taped of women and girls and watched by the Security ‘torture’ Forces of Mubarack. Women and children are the canaries in the mines of these ruthless Regimes/Dictators and only silence allows the oppression to continue. I watched a video of a young woman in Egypt who said she was raped and that despite what this meant, in a ‘conservative’ culture and despite her conservative dress/religiousness she was speaking up, in hopes that others might be spared this injustice and because she knew that telling might just shame them…see they count on these women to keep quiet…there families too.
I hope Eman al-Obeidy is found, cared for and allowed to heal. In many ways, she too knew that only telling, would save her and perhaps her friends too.
Thanks Wonk The Vote for covering Eman al-Obeidy story.
Indeed Mubarack Forces and all that means are still there. Only the” velvet glove ” of civilian government as been stripped away.
Yes, it’s horrible, but I still don’t want us to be in Libya. The Libyans have to fix their culture because it cannot be done by outsiders. If we want change, we should begin at home first before we start trying to fix what is wrong in other places.
Gosh, with the NEVER ENDING WARS in Afghanistan and Iraq everyone seems to think this is a US Sole operation, which it is not. Clinton participated in a No Fly Zone and used his head and got out.
Gaddafi has been connected to many acts of terrorism and no one ever stood up to him, with even the PAN AM bomber being freed due to his Regime’s pressure…which now seems unthinkable, but it happened.
The people of Libya are putting up a fight as best they can, fighting with toy guns even, in an effort to gain their freedom. I don’t want ground troops and I want an EXIT plan out of Afghanistan and Iraq, as I don’t care to support our government making deals with the Taliban, nor paying the Taliban or War Extortion Lords (sick use of the word Lord) extortion money to travel on roads that were built and paid for by us and the citizens terrorized and women so fraught with terror every day (due to the Taliban continuation of oppressive culture/government) that they would rather set themselves on fire.
So, no, I think, the Middle East is awakening to fight the evil of oppression that has held them back and even women in Afghanistan started some very small protests for their Freedom…
Desperation drives abused Afghan women to death by fire
I couldn’t make through the whole video. I remember watching people jump from the WTC on 9/11. I remember watching in horror, not because they jumped, but rather because they CHOSE to jump rather than stay where they were. How horrible it must have been in that building for them to choose jumping 90 floors to their death rather than staying where they were. That is all I could think about while watching that video.
Hillary has to run. I know that is selfish of me, but no one has been (and currently is) a better champion for women and girls than Hillary. That doesn’t mean this atrocity wouldn’t have happened, but I’m sure that these incidents would decrease if she was in office.
Hillary 2012
Nima Elbagir’s report from last year on Afghani women burning themselves for freedom:
http://letthemlisten.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/burning-themselves-for-freedom/
@ Rock, My husband said one of the most horrific things he saw was groups of 20 plus people holding hands and jumping from the WTC. He said you could see people hugging each other before they would jump…as you said it was a better death for them…a choice they made.
That is one brave woman. I hope they don’t torture her further, but fear that they will.
I fear the same thing. In fact, I’m pretty sure they will.
This is horrifying. I am shocked and worried about her safety too. I can’t even bring myself to write any more about it.
The ‘sanity’ thing has been used against women for ever.
I do hope she is not forgotten, nor the fact that Gaddafi’s Security Forces use rape as a weapon, on defenseless women.
I hope the Arabs are just as outraged as us. I also hope that this shakes up the still brainwashed Libyans and those still sitting on the fence.
Mona Eltahawy’s post on Gaddafi and women
http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/?p=141
I saw that, can you believe it, a woman is raped and she has to get ‘re-educated’, for what, being raped.
i have a question the UN mandate is pretty much do what ever it take to protect civilians
that us has been pounding Gaddafis forces pretty hard so under the UN mandates that would mean if the rebel forces where so try and take tripoli or some other major city held by Gaddafis forces the US would have to attack the rebels because they would be putting civilian lives in jeopardy .
is that how every else misinterpreted it
correction-interpreted
No, it doesn’t mean that. In the first place it’s Gaddafi who is putting people in danger. The people in Tripoli want him gone too, trust me. We’re talking about a man who tortures and disappears people. Once he’s gone, plenty more people will feel safe to speak up.
Gaddafi faked civilian deaths according to Gates.
sorry Boston i beg to differ with you
and so dose the UN resolution.
Security Council Resolution on Libya
” It does not authorize member states to support rebels, defend armed insurgent groups, remove Qaddafi from office, or take steps to prevent Qaddafi’s use of mercenaries.”
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-security-council-resolution-on-libya/
I didn’t the resolution said that.
i never said that you did Boston,. it just how this thing is used that all
@boogieman
Security Council Resolution on Libya
” It does not authorize member states to support rebels, defend armed insurgent groups, remove Qaddafi from office, or take steps to prevent Qaddafi’s use of mercenaries.”
True enough. However, the practical understanding of the thing is that protecting civilians involves diminishing Qaddafi’s ability to harm them by neutralizing both his aerial and his ground capacity. If in turn that facilitates his removal, the support of the insurgents, etc.– oh, well. All to the good.
i just have a bad feeling about this war that we may get tied up in a long drawn out war . i hope im wrong i hope im very wrong
Everyone hopes that.
Boogie,
This is not a US ‘owned’ No Fly Zone, it is a UN one, and it started or was led by the French, with Gaddafi forces on Benghazi’s gates, not a minute to loose.
NATO will be taking over the operations, with a Canadian being in charge of operations.
UPDATE:
Women protest against attacks by Gaddafi forces
Wow, so when she was trying to get the word out about her friends, she was speaking of the missing lawyers!?! Most distressing indeed…and still no one has seen her.
So, she is one of four missing women attorneys who had gone MISSING after protesting and doing some other work which has not been confirmed yet.
Distressing, distressing and horrific even more, when we realize others are being held and tortured, and rape is one of their horrific tools used on these women.
Gaddafi needs to go, these women are human beings, HUMAN BEINGS!
I hope they are also asking for the release of the other three women attorneys too.
Eman Al-Obeidi, speaks about the horrors her family has lived through and how she is proud of her daughter. This is not the first loss this family has suffered under Gaddafi.