Iman al-Obeidi Reportedly Free After Claiming Rape, Libya Detains Several Men

TRIPOLI, Libya -- A woman who rushed into a hotel to tell foreign reporters that Libyan troops had raped her is free and with her family, the government said Sunday.

Iman al-Obeidi was tackled by waitresses and government minders as she told her story to journalists Saturday after running into the hotel where many are staying. She said that troops had detained her at a checkpoint, tied her up, abused her, then led her away to be gang-raped.

The Associated Press only identifies rape victims who volunteer their names.

The government says four men were interrogated in the case, including the son of a high-ranking state official.

Sky News is indicating there may be a fifth man who was also detained:

The son of a high-ranking Libyan police officer is thought to be among five people arrested after a woman claimed she was raped and tortured by men connected to Colonel Gaddafi's regime.

In a conversation with Sky News, Libya's deputy foreign minister Khalid Kaim said the men were being detained as part of a criminal investigation into the rape allegations made by Iman al-Obeidi.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed in an interview with The Associated Press that the woman was a prostitute who refused to undergo a medical examination, and that she is now with her sister in the Libyan capital.

"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," he said. But at a news conference in Tripoli several hours later, he did not repeat that allegation.

He said she had named her attackers, which claimed was against Libyan custom.

"It's about the honor of family of children and people," Moussa told reporters.

Al-Obeidi had said she was detained by a number of troops at a Tripoli checkpoint on Wednesday. She said they were drinking whiskey and handcuffed her. She said 15 men later raped her.

"They tied me up ... they even defecated and urinated on me," she said, her face streaming with tears. "The Gadhafi militiamen violated my honor."

Then hotel employees and security personnel jumped her and dragged her out of the hotel as she tried to tell her story to journalists on Saturday.

Her story could not be independently verified.

The waiters called her a traitor and told her to shut up. She retorted: "We're all Libyan brothers, we are supposed to be treated the same, but this is what the Gadhafi militiamen did to me, they violated my honor."

The scene quickly turned chaotic, with journalists attempting to protect the woman from government minders who physically attacked and intimidated her.

Journalists who tried to intervene were pushed out of the way by the minders. A British television reporter was punched, and CNN's camera was smashed on the ground by the minders.

Comments

[barbara henninger]

08:28 PM on 04/01/2011

Lets not be so hasty to believe everything we're fed. Does anybody remember the "Incubator Babies" story before the first Gulf War? You can look for it on youtube. This story appears stage managed quite conveniently.

[Amanda Kay Harmon]

02:46 AM on 03/31/2011

Please do not report that she has been found!
She is still missing, her family has not seen her and reporting that she has been found will only quiet her voice. Until her family and friends see her, her mother says she has received phone calls with bribery and they believe she is either dead or still in a compound while they try to convince Iman to retract her accusations against the men who attacked her.

[Anti-Panoptic]

08:34 PM on 03/28/2011

Untill SHE herself comes forward, its hard to beleieve anything that is reported since she was taken away.

[janjiam]

08:24 AM on 03/29/2011

Yeah.. lets not believe the story at all because he footage of her being harrassed by the wait staff was just too inconclusive.

And of course she is accused of being a prostitute.. and as we know, a hooker does not get raped by 15 men.

( not snarking at you personally, you just made a good post :D )

[Brant Kelsey]

02:48 PM on 03/28/2011

Government Minders: isn't that the equivalent of our journalists being "embedded" and fed what their military handlers allow them? With regard the story at hand: The mother commented, holding a picture of her daughter, that she is a physician: And though this could be loosely construed, at least in our country, as being a form of prostitution......it is apparent it is not Sex that is being traded: That the "minders" smashed camera's, punched journalists, taking some to the floor: brandished pistols, and then threw a bag over this woman's head: Surely suggests to me that this unscripted event was realized not to play well. There is simply no doubt that this Woman's claims are meritorious. There is no doubt, that in her pain, and in her anguish: She threw caution to the wind. And with great courage, and disdain for her safety; fueled by the horror she had endured, made a decision that presented the potential for dire consequences: another anonymous death. This gambit, likely will serve to preserve her life. That the questions as to what has become of her will not go away. She is one face that is indelibly imprinted: She is finally, though sadly, a face in this Conflict.

As to Ghadaffi, and the stories proffered by the "Minders": The allegation that somehow she is a prostitute and warranted what she received is simply to ludicrous to address. And reveals the character of the mindset that would present so spurious a "justification".

[KMAJ]

10:45 AM on 03/29/2011

No, it is not the equivalent of military "embedded" journalists at all. Do some more research and try again.

[chillwind]

02:42 PM on 03/28/2011

Interesting to see how many posters are inclined to see her claims as a "plant." While acknowledging the potential pitfalls of hearsay (particularly from a distance), why choose to apply the skepticism more readily to her than the regime? From a Times article:

"And the experience she described was consistent with longstanding reports of human rights abuses in Libya under the Qaddafi government.

Ms. Obeidy’s mother, Aisha Ahmed, a resident of the rebel-held town of Tobrok, told The Washington Post that Ms. Obeidy was a 26-year-old law student in Tripoli. “I am very happy, very proud,” her mother said, calling Ms. Obeidy a hero.

Ms. Obeidy’s parents reportedly said government officials had called them early Sunday to offer her money and a new house if she recanted. Relatives reached through a rebel activist late Sunday declined to talk. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/world/africa/28tripoli.html?hpw

Also, as others have pointed out, and for reasons I couldn't possibly hope to explain, the story is not covered prominently by Al Jazeera English online, but they did post this story which reports claims that dead regime fighters were found to have Viagra (of all things) and condoms on their persons:

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/03/201132845516144204.html

[Brant Kelsey]

03:11 PM on 03/28/2011

The tradition of Blood money. Much as the circumstance in Pakistan where the covert CIA agent blew away to motorcyclist, shooting them through the windshield of the vehicle he was in. Of course this initially was portrayed as an American "contractor" who defended himself from a robbery. Weeks passed and we learned that he was arrested with several weapons, a half dozen "throwaway" phones: Containing the locations of Mosques: and known terrorist operatives. Then we learned that he was taken to court and released. We then learned that this was done at the request of Family members of the two victims. Then we learned that some family members had gone missing. Then we learned the Wife of one of the Victims, had committed suicide. Then we learned that the lawyers of the family had been questioned and detained, as well as family members themselves; at the time of, and right up and to the Court appearance. Then we learned of the tradition of Blood Money. That justice can be escaped if you can give the Victims relatives enough cash. Then we learned that the family had no interest in Blood Money. They wanted Justice for the deaths of their loved ones: Then we learned, that it really didn't matter what they wanted: And that no stone would be unturned in having "our contractor" released: Of course in the balance billions in aid to Pakistan. No one comes to this argument with clean hands. All hands are stained in blood.

[Elwise1]

01:54 PM on 03/28/2011

Until she is free to speak to the international media while her family is all in a safe place you can not believe Gaddafi's people. For that matter they have an obvious history of lies and suppression of those willing to tell their truth. Hooray for Anderson Cooper who is willing to label a lie as a lie. He has the guts to be a true reporter, after getting facts. I'm sure that has an impact on how this "government story" is being received.

This lady will go down in history as a positive force for women's rights in the world.

[trafalgar50]

01:30 PM on 03/28/2011

Revolutions happen for a reason. There is a point where the people will not take it anymore. Sometimes the sentiments smolder just under the surface until something like an atrocity sparks it, and it ignites. We are witnessing this in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Once people realize that there is hope...that they can have something better, they will fight back. I think that the internet has been a vehicle for this information and realization. Unwittingly, many of these tyrants and despots have contributed to their own undoing by allowing this ubiquitous flow of information. I am sure that China is watching this closely.

[PaulHenderson]

12:27 PM on 03/28/2011

Aren't all unmarried women in Muslim countries considered prostitutes, I mean, by their governments?

[spuggy]

01:29 PM on 03/28/2011

no!

[nb693]

02:26 AM on 03/30/2011

Please !!!!~ Where do you get such information? Many of those governments are bad, please don't give them reason to call us totally ignorant !

[PaulHenderson]

03:44 AM on 03/30/2011

They're probably a lot smarter than you, and would realize I was being facetious. I assume English is not your first language, time to start working on that.

[WarriorLemming]

12:05 PM on 03/28/2011

QUOTE:
"Iman al-Obeidi was tackled by waitresses and government minders"

Government minders!?! Can there be any better reason than to see this current government stomped into the ground--too bad our government is broke though--we have no money to help--the millionaires are spending their generous extended Bush tax cuts on caviar.

[PaulHenderson]

12:21 PM on 03/28/2011

I was wondering how you were going to manage to try and make it Republican's fault, nice try though.

[Leah Vollmer]

12:34 PM on 03/28/2011

I believe that millionaires were the group mentioned; didn't read anything about Republicans in WarriorLemming's post. Interesting how YOU drew a parallel between American millionaires and the Republican Party all by yourself, though. Ever heard of ALEC?

[WarriorLemming]

12:39 PM on 03/28/2011

You've been out hunting Yeti in the Himalayan Mountains for the past few years, haven't you..... ;)

[skyewriter]

11:58 AM on 03/28/2011

The Libyan officials sound an awful lot like the GOP in the GA House who are trying to re-define victims of rape as "accusers:" http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display.aspx?Legislation=31978

[margarets opinion]

11:43 AM on 03/28/2011

We expect more from the Huffington Post please! It is NOT confirmed by international news sources that she is with her family and no longer detained. If her sister is now with her, it may mean that her sister is now detained with her now too, so to say "she is with her family" isn't the whole truth. And saying "she is in the Capital" isn't the whole story either, Where, exactly? In the Gaddafi compound where she can be drugged or coerced to make statements? Can the Red Cross have access to her now? Huffington Post, please keep up your high standards to demand answers, to pose all the right questions.

[raffa657]

12:14 PM on 03/28/2011

We expect more from all media, but don't blame Huffington Post.
It can only report the information it has and doing that is the essence of what journalism should do.
You are a perfect example of how it at least makes us aware and leads people like you and I to ask the very questions you've just posed.
The high standard that you speak of will be determined on how well Huffpost follows up.

[margarets opinion]

01:31 PM on 03/28/2011

Not to say "I told you so" but now her parents say she is held in Gaddafi's compound, and that's not freedom by any means. And she is NOT with family. She is not his "guest" either. What a time to be a "guest" when you want to be with your parents, for God's sake. I'm glad Huff Post did run the update on this in a new story that is similar ot what the NYTimes is running, that she's in that compound in Tripoli. Good Huff Post did an about face.

[zenbamboo]

11:42 AM on 03/28/2011

As long as the journalists have government minders they won't ever get the real story or get to see what is really going on.

[TannySG]

11:35 AM on 03/28/2011

Even if she was a prostitute, this is ridiculously brutal, cruel and a violation of her basic human rights. I don't think this is a "planted" story by either government...or some big conspiracy. I hope she is safe, and that there are not others in her same situation.

[Candide33]

11:27 AM on 03/28/2011

"The usual story in Muslim countries about raped women is that they are obviously prostitute­s or loose women or surely they would have fought their rapists to their death. "

Funny but republicans are saying the exact same thing as they fight to have the definition of rape changed.

[Anti-Panoptic]

08:29 PM on 03/28/2011

I concur wholeheartedly!

[bcmom]

11:24 AM on 03/28/2011

This woman has courage.