Libya rape victim in Malta, US 'concerned' about her well-being

Media organisation CNN reports that Eman al-Obeidy has been helped to get out of Libya with her father and, after stopping in Malta, the two will leave for Europe.

6 June 2011, 12:00am

1 min read

Al-Obeidy, whose story has shocked the world after she said Gaddafi’s security forces had gang-raped her, has been helped by officials in Europe, Libya and the United States to get her safely out of the country.

Together with her father, al-Obeidy has reportedly made it safely to Malta. According to CNN, she will then be sent to a processing center in Europe before leaving for a final destination, which is still unknown.

The media organisation also reported that the US is deeply concerned about her well-being and that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “has been deeply interested in the case and has followed it throughout.”

In March, when the Libya fighting had started to intensify, the woman had tried to fight off security forces at a hotel where journalists where staying to tell them about her rape.

Al-Obeidy had claimed to have been raped by 15 men: “I was tied up and they defecated and urinated on me,” she had said. “They violated my honour.”

“They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whiskey. I was tied up.”

Obeidy had told the journalists she was a native of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi who had been stopped by Qaddafi militia on the outskirts of the city. After being held for about two days, she said, she had managed to escape.

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RApe and beatings of women is a very normal concept among the African savage regimes. So the story must have some truth. What is so said though is that these things are happening en masse in many African countries and no one talks about them. European and Amercan media need to wake up and report on these type of abuses. This savagery must stop once and for all. And where is the UN in all of this.

Jessica Chetcuti •

If we are to believe the alleged rape and beatings at the hands of Ghaddafi’s troops then my sympathy goes out to this woman, she has certainly had a horrendous time. But what I can’t understand is why have the Qatari authorities deported her? She is also claiming that she was badly beaten, handcuffed, and put on a military plane and sent back to Libya....... Something just doesn’t add up here...... I hope that the Qatari government can shed some light on the matter. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/06/05/libya.rape.case/index.html?iref=allsearch

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" after stopping in Malta, the two will leave for Europe." Funny.. I thought Malta was a part of Europe already...