By Post Staff Report. TRIPOLI, Libya โ Since Iman al-Obeidi burst into the hotel housing foreign journalists in Tripoli and accused pro-Khadafy militiamen of gang-raping her, she says many people on the streets of the capital have recognized her and praised her bravery. Even cab drivers have refused to take her money to offer their support. Recounting her story in graphic detail for the first time alone with two female reporters, al-Obeidi claimed she was brutalized for two days and wept as she recalled the ordeal.
She said she was repeatedly raped by 15 different men โ one of them a cousin of Khadafy โ who were drinking alcohol that they sometimes poured in her eyes and in her vagina. She said she was sodomized with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Visibly distraught, she claimed they had tied her up and defecated and urinated on her and showed reporters scratches on her face and a bloodied thigh. As she tried to tell her story that first day, government minders inside the hotel attacked her in a chaotic scene where journalists tried to jump in and protect her, and ended up getting punched themselves and having their equipment smashed by the minders. Al-Obeidi said after that, she was detained for three days when she was beaten and left to lie on the floor with no food or drink, then released.
Since then, she has been living with a friend in a modest apartment that her sister pays for. But she is depressed because judicial officials not only ignore her pleas, but have turned the case on its head and accused her of committing a crime by naming her attackers.
Her body still bears scars of violence โ fading bruises on her upper arms, scratches on her thighs and her eyes are bloodshot from crying. During the interview, she was casually dressed without her veil in a red striped T-shirt and beige Bermuda shorts, her hair tied back with a flowered clip. Her face was sober, and she wringed her hands as she spoke. Al-Obeidi has maintained that she was targeted by troops because she is from the city of Benghazi, the de facto capital of the opposition which took control of the eastern half of the country shortly after the uprising against Khadafy began in February.
