Libyan Gang-Rape Victim Reveals More Graphic Details
- Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:39pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Since Iman al-Obeidi burst into the hotel housing foreign journalists in Tripoli and accused pro-Gadhafi militiamen of gang-raping her, she says many people on the streets of the capital have recognized her and praised her bravery. Even cab drivers have refused to take her money to offer their support.
(Watch al-Obeidi’s interview with Anderson Cooper.)
Recounting her story in graphic detail for the first time alone with two female reporters, al-Obeidi claimed she was brutalized for two days and wept as she recalled the ordeal. She said she was repeatedly raped by 15 different men — one of them a cousin of Gadhafi — who were drinking alcohol that they sometimes poured in her eyes and in her vagina. She said she was sodomized with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Al-Obeidi spoke to reporters from The Associated Press and National Public Radio from her home. It was a rare interview without Libyan government minders, who keep almost constant watch over the dozens of foreign journalists the regime has invited in to cover its side of the uprising against Gadhafi’s 42-year rule of this North African Arab country.
Al-Obeidi, 28, came to the attention of the world’s press when she burst into the Rixos hotel in Tripoli on March 26 and told scores of foreign correspondents that she had just escaped from a gang rape by drunken Gadhafi militiamen. Visibly distraught, she claimed they had tied her up and defecated and urinated on her and showed reporters scratches on her face and a bloodied thigh.
As she tried to tell her story that first day, government minders inside the hotel attacked her in a chaotic scene where journalists tried to jump in and protect her, and ended up getting punched themselves and having their equipment smashed by the minders.
Al-Obeidi said after that, she was detained for three days when she was beaten and left to lie on the floor with no food or drink, then released. Since then, she has been living with a friend in a modest apartment that her sister pays for.
She said she begins every day the same way — by going to the prosecutor general’s office to follow up with her case. But she is depressed because judicial officials not only ignore her pleas, but have turned the case on its head and accused her of committing a crime by naming her attackers.
Her body still bears scars of violence — fading bruises on her upper arms, scratches on her thighs and her eyes are bloodshot from crying. During the interview, she was casually dressed without her veil in a red striped T-shirt and beige Bermuda shorts, her hair tied back with a flowered clip. Her face was sober, and she wringed her hands as she spoke.
“Many people — young men and women — come up to me in the street when they know I am Iman al-Obeidi and tell me they admire my courage,” she said in the interview on Monday.
Al-Obeidi has maintained that she was targeted by troops because she is from the city of Benghazi, the de facto capital of the opposition which took control of the eastern half of the country shortly after the uprising against Gadhafi began in February.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim has confirmed that al-Obeidi was a rape victim but alleged she was a prostitute and had a criminal record of petty crime and indecency, allegations al-Obeidi denied firmly.
There was no way to independently verify al-Obeidi‘s account as journalists’ movements and what they can report are tightly restricted in Tripoli by the regime.
She said she was returning from a friend’s house on the evening of March 24 when her taxi was stopped at one of the many checkpoints that now control the movement of people around the capital at night. Al-Obeidi was forced to climb into the militia’s car when they discovered her ID card showed she was from the rebel-held east.
“There were a number of militiamen in the Toyota and another girl they had captured and stuffed on the floor of the car under their feet,” she said.
They were taken to a large home that looked like a palace and that’s when she claims two days of rape and torture began.
“I kept fighting back. I hit back a lot and I kept fighting,” she said. “They eventually tied my arms and legs together.”
Tied naked and left on the floor of a room inside the huge house, al-Obeidi said a total of fifteen men took turns raping her, at least three men at a time. They would strangle her, cover her head while raping her, and kick her when they were done, she said.
“My neck turned blue from being strangled,” she said.
She said the men were drunk all the time, and would pour alcohol in her eyes, nose and mouth to cut off her air supply. She said they also poured alcohol in her vagina, and sodomized her with a Kalashnikov rifle.
She claimed that the ringleader was a cousin of Gadhafi and son of a government minister. She said she recognized him because her sister worked for his father, and they knew his family.
On the third morning of her captivity, an escape route opened. Another girl who had been captured with her had not been tied up because she wasn’t fighting the rape, al-Obeidi said. She helped her cut the rope from her legs.
Naked and hysterical, she said she jumped out of a window and threatened the African guards at the gate with a metal rod.
“I could see fear in their faces when they looked at me — my hair was wild, I was naked and screaming,” she said.
Once they opened the gates to the street, she ran for her life.
“I ran down the side of the house screaming and crying and the (rapists’) car was chasing me,” she remembers. “Neighbors started to come out to look and they protected me.”
Women in the neighborhood brought her clothes and paid for her taxi.
“They asked if I wanted to go to the police station, but I didn‘t go because that’s not where I would find justice,” she said.
Instead, she headed straight for the Rixos hotel where she knew the foreign journalists in Tripoli were staying.
“I wasn’t scared. I wanted to show the world what the Gadhafi brigades are really like and I didn’t think about myself or my family,” she said.
Al-Obeidi has decided to press her case with the prosecutor general, even though judicial officials ignore her and she has little hope for justice. She says she is doing this to draw attention to the crimes of the regime. She claims she has faced danger even within the courthouse, where a civil servant once pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. She said people gathered around her to protect her.
The government has tried to discredit al-Obeidi. Its spokesman, Ibrahim, told the AP on March 27 that she was a prostitute and had a criminal record of petty crime and indecency. He confirmed she was a rape victim, but implied she was a victim of her lifestyle.
“This girl is a prostitute. She has her rights completely, but the girl is not what she pretended to be. This is her line of work,” Ibrahim told the AP. But at a news conference in Tripoli several hours later, he did not repeat that allegation in front of the entire foreign media contingency.
Ibrahim said al-Obeidi was facing charges because she had named her attackers, which he claimed was against Libyan custom.
“It’s about the honor of family of children and people,” he told reporters.
Al-Obeidi challenges the charges.
“If the men are really innocent, then let them come to the court and prove it,” she said.
Libyan state television even ran a smear campaign against al-Obeidi with prominent presenter Hala al-Misrati calling her a whore.
“Why wasn’t I given the right to defend myself (on Libyan TV). If they weren’t lying about me, they would have given me the right to defend myself,” she said.






















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Comments (113)
workinghard
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:22pmI am really tired of the “she’s a prostitute” defense. If a Christian pastor raped a woman he wouldn’t go to court and say she was a prostitute!! That’s no excuse. What are these upstanding Muslims doing having sex with a known prostitute??
Report Post »Does their religion really allow them to have sex with ANYBODY outside of marriage/marriages???
Anybody know???
mrmikejohnson
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:13pmThis incident is mainly due to the violent rhetoric of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. FoxNews’ lies caused the men to rape this woman.
Report Post »cip
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:00pmNuke all MUSLIMS, NOT ONE OF THEM ARE ANY GOOD
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:11pmShould we Nuke these too?
If you think that was bad take a look at this… Right here within your very own borders.. What are we going to do with these animals?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20042118-504083.html
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:56pmProbably common behavior for Arab men. There is a web site that claims one of the Saudi princes is a pedophile. I wouldn’t doubt it.
Report Post »Slowman101
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:55pmA brave woman under any circumstances.
Report Post »gingervitis
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:33pmwhat is the truth of the story? could she be a plant to discredit Guadaffi? I do not know we are aidng terrorists trying to overthrown their government. If the terrorist win, the situation will worsen for US. In egypt we turned against an ally and got the muslim brotherhood and other terrorist groups in charge. Leave the moslims totally alone and let them destroy each other. If we are attacked by muslim terrorist, forget nation building, meals on wheels, building schools, mosques, hospital, roads etc and just carpet bomb these devils back to where they belong. It is perfectly clear what side the president in on, the terrorists.
Report Post »clockwatcher
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:28pmIslam the religion of peace
Report Post »Creestof
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:23pmI hate to say it…but this is sounding more and more like a huge bag of BS.
Report Post »texasfarmer
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:20pmWe should have not gotten involved with Libya. And I‘m sure the NAGS and the rest of the left’s lady groups will not be around for support.
Report Post »Sam Brown
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:14pmI spent some time in Iraq in 05. Talking with some of the Muslim men over chow they said that women are for work and to have childeren. Women have no idea what is comming their way with the socialist and the Muslims teaming up.
Sammy
Report Post »DimmuBorgir
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:12pmsorry, i don’t believe women that cry rape
progressiveslayer
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:12pmThese people are savages and need to be exterminated we need a final solution for the muslim problem.So for the women in the U.S. that want sharia law here, you have no clue what you’re asking for.
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:48pmWhile the rape and humilation of the Lybian woman is truly awful what does America and the Blaze think about the young Conneticut woman who was nearly decapitated by her black boyfriend this past Sunday morning? Oh has the Oreilly, Hannity, and GB not shared that news with you yet? Surely they must have overlooked it? Anyway, I’d be curious to hear what the Blaze audience had to say about this event?
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Lower-East-Side-Woman-Fatally-Stabbed–119588314.html
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:56pmOh that was a Gang rape in Lybia? Oh my that is awful. I say double the bombs on the animals! Kill’em all. Women and children and get the Palestinians too? lol
But wait a moment. What does the Blaze and the rest of Ameria think about the two most recently reported Gang Rapes in America? One in TX and one in CA? Oh did Hannity, Oreilly, and GB not share those stories with you? hmmmm Must have been another overlook? Funny how they keep overlooking these stories isn’t GB followers? lol
Here’s one of them.. Look the other up yourself because FOX and CNN are not going to report on them… But why would they not report them? They will report a rape on the other side of the planet but not report this?? hmmm
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20042118-504083.html
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:59pmNow you’re talking TECHENGINEER11! Surely you are not a progressive with that kind of “hate speech.”
Report Post »D-Fence
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:00pm@TECHENGINEER11
You dope. Go spin your 12 sided die. I read about the Conn woman who was killed by her boyfriend / nut job. The police came to her aid, although untimely. They didn’t perpetrate the crime like the police / government forces of Ghadaffi or however you spell that dirtbags name. When the police force is beyond the law then you have what we have here. Reminds me of Central American death squads, government supported, that passed judgement unimpeded.
I agree that we shouldn’t trade American lives or wealth for anything in the Middle East, but that’s a different argument. Anyone think Islam is a peace loving culture, think again. It’s a Patriarchal culture and as such is perpetuated through brutality.
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:26pmD-Fence: Why do I have to be a dope? I read the article too but it was not national news like the woman’s rape in Lybia which is really no concern of America? Othewise we better become a little more concerned about the sex trade in Israel, women mutilation in Saudi and religious intolerance in China?
The two rapes I pointed out were perpetrated on 11 year olds? That should be GLOBAL news because no nation ever on the face of this earth has more ANIMALS than America does? Would you care to disagree?
Report Post »1959
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:12pmAnimals…..”… but the girl is not what she pretended to be. This is her line of work,” Ibrahim told the AP. ” so according to him, getting sodomized with a Kalashnikov rifle was just like another day at work? Nauseating.
Report Post »greenturtle
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:12pm“This is what Democracy looks like.”
Report Post »and to the republic
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:14pmtell me again, what does democracy look like?
Report Post »TiltingWindmills
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:11pmShe is truly courageous!
Report Post »SpunkyGal
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:20pmShe really is. She’s truly a survivor.
Report Post »CalvinandHobbes
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:37pmHaving visited the gulf region, I noticed they truly have a different culture. The newspapers have pictures of women with captions that say they are suspected of adultry and things like that. Women are either not allowed to drive, or, if they do, they are honked at and cut off by male drivers. Women are treated as nothing more than property (in my humble opinion). This lady is TRULY brave for speaking out!
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:07pmThat will be what we are headed for if Obama gets his way. Either that or we will have to learn Russian or maybe both.
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:06pmSad thing is NOW, the damocrats, progressives, or socialists will not say anything about it. And won’t even acknowledge it.
Report Post »daveposh
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:05pmIt’s time we send some pigs and pig blood over there!
Report Post »doodlebugger
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:50pmTime to start using pig blood on all bulletts fired from all american arms. Feed the terrorists in Guantanamo bacon and give them a little pig from Texas for a room mate. Pigs are everywhere here, there are actually killing fields where they are shot and left for buzzards, we could use them for good.
Report Post »Obama Snake Oil Co
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:04pmAnd they wonder why we do not like muslims….if you use this to express how you feel….well, guess what? We might just think of burning your bible like you do ours. Such compassionate Al Quiada…
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:19pmYou don’t like muslims, eh?….I like people…and muslims are people…maybe you should say you don’t like rape and brutality…the vast majority of people in muslim countries just want to live their lives peacefully, and enjoy the simple comforts of life, just as we Americans do.
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:20pmal-CIAda
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:22pmmy post was in response to snake oil
Report Post »welovetheUSA
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:02pmNo one should have to go through such a thing………..no one.
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:23pmExcept those that have inflicted that on someone else. If they were scared of actual reprocussions, they would not have done that in the first place. I suppose the wrath of God will be much worse. Will they still get their 77 virgins?
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:09pmSeriously, why is this news? Why is this story being reported in America? There are literally 10s of thousands of cases of rape and murder that occur in America on a weekly basis… so why is this rape so much more important than the ones that occur in America each and every day?
Could this be propaganda? Is there an agenda? Shouldn’t we clean up our own cities and streets before going to the Middel East and N Africa looking for scoundrels? I’m just asking.
Report Post »1proudAmerican
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:21pmThey are worse than the most disgusting animals on the planet.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:13pmtechengineer11:
Seriously?
Wow?!?!?
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:33pmhauschild: Seriously? lol I gave my opinion. What’s yours? Is it really necessary for the US Media to cover a rape in Lybia when we have so many in our very own neighborhoods.. More violent and more murder. That’s my only point. I contend that this is just propaganda and we have no business in Lybia, Iraq, or even Afhghanistan.
Even time to get out of Europe and Asia as well. The Democrats have a point in that there’s a lot of waste in the Military Industrial Complex. How in the hell can Republicans and Libs at the top including Obama make the argument that we must cut spending on shcools and road repair in America while we are building schools and roads in Iraq/Afghanistan? If the Republicans are not careful they will smashed on this issue. There’s a little hispanic Democrat woman from CA going around on the talk shows just making all of the talking heads look like mere fools! Bottom line it’s time to reign in the Military.
Major Gen Smedly Butler said it best in his book War is a Racket that the only worthwhile War is one in which we are defending our Borders or our Constitution! Two things worth fighting for imo. Those are the only two things in my National interest.
Report Post »onegodinkansas
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:25pmTECHE11 is a rabid anti-Semite. Consider the source.
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:12pmonegodinkansas: Maybe you could just point out the facts which you agree with and disagree with instead of resulting to name calling. At least thats what I try to do. I can‘t help that America find’s itself under the rule of a wicked Jewish Apartheid. All I can do it is try to point it out and educate people before they are able to treat us like they treated the people in Russia and Eastern Europe. But I suppose that you are so inundated w/ Holohoax history that you don’t know much about early 20th century Russia and the Bolshevik movment?
Report Post »onegodinkansas
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:17amtell it to the lamp post
Report Post »Merlin X
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 2:18am@ TECHENGINEER=Good questions. I wish I could find the truth. But thanks for throwing that out there.
Report Post »There is something strange about this and all of the current world events.At least to me. But, I’m just a confused [G] b-oy,about all this.
techengineer11
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 11:37amonegodinkansas
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:17am
tell it to the lamp post
Sounds like we have someone long on emotion short on facts. I thought GB followers were suppose to be able to debate using reason and logic? Maybe you are just an exception?
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:59pmThat story left me so empty that I am ready to go TRUMP on all those muslims.
I really don’t get why the “good‘ muslims don’t fight back against this insanity, I guess they are just outnumbered by the evil ones.
Report Post »bellasbrat
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:46pmBecause there’s no such thing as a “good” Muslim. In the final analysis, they all go by what’s in their Quran and what their “religion” teaches.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:25pmBecause there really aren’t any “good” Muslims. Don’t you see? The religions is an absolute sham and destroys anything in its path.
Report Post »mhannah.vera
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:25pmits simple, they are afraid to speak up because their religion is exactly what is being seen by all of us on TV, internet. There is no radical or extreme islam, its all the same.
Report Post »My question is not why don’t they say something? but why are they still in that religion. …and for those who will write on christian extemist, there are none. They are just not Christians. Just read the Bible and their “holy book”, theirs is full of hate toward those that don’t believe as they do and Christians are called to love our neighbor. Their book saids that what ever was written later overides what was written before. The last writings of their “holy book” is all about getting rid of those who don’t believe as they. We nned to stop expecting people that never had an American experience to act like we do. Their logic is not ours and their problems can’t be solved by American thinking. They have no logic to what they do. They move by their feelings at the time. Thats why they are led by the nose all the time. And when someone breaks rank (by American thinking)they squash it down.
Brad Wesselmann
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:36pmAnd scared shizzless…they don’t want to paint a target on their own heads either. At some point the pain will become intolerable and it will come down to fight or die.
Report Post »nomark
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:14pmThere were some good muslims.The ones that helped her. But you are correct, where is the outrage? If a group of jews had done this, the Jewish people would condemn them as savage animals. If it had been a Christian group, every preacher in America would be denounce them and calling for justice. But in the Muslim word? Near silence.
Report Post »Revere1
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:56pmYou hear that sound? It’s the sound of a million liberal feminists not saying a word. They don’t dare criticize Islam, because their liberal leaders care more about politics than women’s rights: http://www.battlefield315.com/2011/02/feminism-explained.html
Report Post »txbigfoot
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 7:37amgreat comment
Report Post »the liberal woMAN will not say a word as they are in conflict. Protect a woman or protect Islam.
Guess what they picked.
the_zazzy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:56pmThey are sick ANIMALS over there! I like how it’s her fault for being a woman. Where are the International Women’s Organizations? Are they scared? Speak up…can’t hear you!
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:03pmIf you think that was bad take a look at this… Right here within your very own borders.. What are we going to do with these animals?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20042118-504083.html
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:55pmAdd your comments
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:51pmIf this were my sister I’d want my “blood right” on these animals…..great way to cause further rebellion! Of course, the “rebels” may feel the same way about women i.e. they are cattle with little to no rights……
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:49pmShe’s lying….those were TEA party members! Couldn’t have been Libyans.
rdk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:00pmOr maybe it was Trumka and his boys. They are actually violent. TEA Party activists are only interested in putting an end to tax, borrow and spend. But you knew that; the TEA Party scares you because it believes in the dignity of work, not free loading like you.
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:12pmRDK, you obviously missed the sarcasm directed at Liberals. I know what the TEA party stands for because I am one. Obviously TEA party members are not over in Libya. Sorry if I confused you!
Report Post »and to the republic
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:42pm@ the zazzy….this may be the best example of sarcasm ever, and it still went over some peoples heads. Best to point out when sarcasm is in use because you will get jumped as you can now attest to…..
Report Post »urbanserf
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:48pmThankfully the UN was able to stop this.
Report Post »Insipid
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:53pmI caught the obvious sarcasm. I’m no rocket scientist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
Zoe
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:54pmOh yeah this is really funny you ??????????????????
Report Post »Akscooch
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:47pmDisgusting, lying, reprobate.
cemerius
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 3:50pmPoint being women in Islam are cattle with little to no rights! Wonder what the “women” of NOW (NAGs) are saying in her defense? Do I hear cricket sounds as usual?
Report Post »jray
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:06pmIm one of those violent tea party members and i would love to get a hold you you gay communist fruit loop! You are an abomination and this world would be better off with a few less of you.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:12pmIm guessing her story gives us all a bit of insight into the dating traditions of your typical Muslim male.
Report Post »prov1
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:39pm.any reason why we BLAZERS are concerned for America ? I’ld rather live like a hermit in the Cascades like Bear Grills……
Report Post »Brasil2520
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:33pmThe liberals removed my comment, I must be on NEWSVINE
Report Post »NancyBee
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:01pmVery sad…..God help her..
Report Post »paulamadden
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 6:04pmYes, they were union members for sure.
Report Post »restorehope
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:24pmI’m very fearful for her. She still could be arrested and tried for accusing the soldiers of rape…and then stoned to death. Shariah law has to be the most vicious and evil tenets of any religion in the history of the world.
Report Post »red_white_blue2
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:42pmYour a Sick Bastard for such a comment
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:20pmsome of BHO’s cousins did it…
Report Post »nptden
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:26pmThe Muslims are slipping…isn‘t she supposed to be ’stoned’, or maybe she was ‘stoned’ before things happened. Either way, it‘s so hard to believe people of such a ’peaceful’ religion would do things like that.
Report Post »Merlin X
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:22amGood comment.My parents injected sarcasm in my DNA while I was still in the womb[being knit].
Report Post »earthrise
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 4:43am…. The Pen REFUSES to Write…..
(not My Words……)
Report Post »