Iman al-Obeidi Claims She Was Gang Raped By Gadhafi Officials

This story is a mess:

A woman who rushed into a hotel to tell foreign reporters that Libyan troops had raped her has been freed and is with her family, a government official 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 and then led her away to be gang-raped.

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

“It’s a criminal case against four individuals,” Ibrahim added. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television, al-Obeidi’s father said that the woman is a lawyer. “I’m the father of Iman, I’m telling you she has her full mental abilities,” he said, according to a translation by NBC News. “She is a graduate of law and is a lawyer.” 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.”

Wow. Pure craziness…we hope that if she is indeed telling the truth that justice is served.

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