Libyan woman ‘offered bribes’ to withdraw rape claims

Last Saturday, Eman al Obeidi had rushed into a Tripoli hotel, where the media is based, shouting that she had been raped and tortured over two days after being picked up at a checkpoint in the capital.

She also told journalist she had been targeted at the chekpoint because she was from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

Security forces loyal to Gaddafi had intervened and took the woman away. Yesterday, Libyan authorities said the woman had been freed.

However, al Obeidi’s family claim a different story, saying the she has still not returned home.

Aisha Ahmad, al Obeidi’s mother said “Last night at three they called from Gaddafi’s compound and asked me to convince my daughter Eman to change what she said.”

Ahmad said she was told al Obeidi would be freed if she changed her story, adding she was offered “anything you and your family would ask for – money, a new home.”

A government spokesperson had said that “Miss Eman has been released because, of course, she hasn't committed any major offence, she has just entered a place she wasn't supposed to enter… She made claims about being kidnapped and raped, this is a criminal case."

Ahmad said her daughter was “kidnapped in front of the camera. She was trying to appear to the world, she wanted to tell them what was happening in Misratah, in Benghazi and the east. She wanted to reveal that."