Libyan gang rape victim reveals details of torture by pro-Gaddafi men
A Libyan woman who had burst into the hotel housing foreign journalists in Tripoli to say that she was gang raped by pro-Muammar Gaddafi militiamen, has revealed for the first time the horrifying details of her alleged attack.
Iman al-Obeidi has claimed that on March 24, when her taxi was stopped at a checkpoint, she was forced to climb into the militia's car by 15 drunk men after they discovered her ID card showed she was from the rebel-held east. They then allegedly brutalised her over a two-day period, the Daily Mail reports.
“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.
Al-Obeidi, who still bears scars and bruises, also said that her attackers had been drinking alcohol, which they poured into her eyes, nose, mouth and other parts of her body.
She claimed she was taken to a large property, which looked like a palace, where her the Gaddafi loyalists, including allegedly the dictator’s cousin and a ministor’s son, had raped and tortures her.
“I kept fighting back. I hit back a lot and I kept fighting. They eventually tied my arms and legs together,” the paper quoted her, as saying.
Al-Obeidi further said that she was tied naked and left on the floor while the accused took turns to attack her, sometimes three at a time. She alleged the men choked her, covered her head while they raped her and kicked her when they finished.
“My neck turned blue from being strangled,” she added.
The 28-year-old woman, who has been charged with slander by the Libyan government, has claimed that the regime is not allowing her to leave Tripoli to return to her family.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim had earlier confirmed that al-Obeidi had been raped, but alleged she was a prostitute with a criminal record of petty crime and indecency.
However Al-Obeidi, who says she was a law graduate before the attack, has denied Ibrahim's claims.
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