Could this story be the equivalent of the story and lies about the death of Neda in Iran? Although Eman has not been killed like Neda, she burst upon the scene in a way that has provided a window into the lying and scheming of the Gadhaffi regime. This is the story of a woman who was detained at a checkpoint, handcuffed, abused and raped by at least 15 men over a period of 48 hours. Emani was helped to escape by people who lived near the checkpoint. Her friends are apparently still in custody.
This story has been covered by every news outlet including the New York Times and the BBC, as well as the various Reuters outlets. The New York Slimes used language in the story that indicates that the journalists writing the story are fed up with the Gadhaffi regime. In the words of the NYT:
For the members of the foreign news media here at the invitation of the government of Colonel Qaddafi — andlargely confined to the Rixos Hotel except for official outings — the episode was a reminder of the brutality of the Libyan government and the presence of its security forces even among the hotel staff. People in hotel uniforms, who just hours before had been serving coffee and clearing plates, grabbed table knives and rushed to restrain the woman and to hold back the journalists.
Ms. Obeidy said she was a native of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi who had been stopped by Qaddafi militia on the outskirts of Tripoli. After being held for about two days, she said, she had managed to escape. Wearing a black robe, a veil and slippers, she ran into the Rixos Hotel here, asking specifically to speak to the news service Reuters and The New York Times. “There is no media coverage outside,” she yelled at one point.
“They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whiskey. I was tied up,” she told Michael Georgy of Reuters, who was able to speak with her briefly. “I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up immediately after this.” She added: “Look at my face. Look at my back.” Her other comments were captured by television cameras.
A wild scuffle began as journalists tried to interview, photograph and protect her. Several journalists were punched, kicked and knocked down by the security forces, working in tandem with people who until then had appeared to be hotel staff members. Security officials destroyed a CNN video camera and seized a device that a Financial Times reporter had used to record her testimony. A plainclothes security officer pulled out a revolver.
Two members of the hotel staff grabbed table knives to threaten Ms. Obeidy and the journalists.
One journalist, who clashed with the Daffy officials has been escorted out of Lebanon. It started when Emani sneaked into the Rixos hotel where the world wide journalists are being kept in Tripoli by the Daffy Duck regime. She came to tell her story of being raped. There were scuffles, and a waitress pulled a knife on her, another tried to put a bag over her head, whilst a man pulled a gun on her and the journalists. A close up of the footage shows that the woman was not lying about her ordeal because she had scratches on her face, and evidence that her hands had been bound and there were bruises and blood on her legs.
The woman struggled with the Daffy goons, and she was moved outside, where she managed to raise her dress to show the injuries on her legs. One of the minders put his hand over her mouth in an attempt to stop her from talking. One of the waitresses had screamed at her “traitor”. She was shoved into a waiting car and then taken away. The newsmen on the scene managed to get pictures and to smuggle out film footage of the struggle that took place.
The Daffy spokesman then got up and told the journalists that the woman was drunk and that she was mentally incapacitated. When that story did not work, he made up another one claiming that the woman was a prostitute, that she was divorced and had 3 children and liked to have parties with men. Well, it turns out that Eman al Obaidi is a 26 year old law student in Tripoli, but who is a resident of Benghazi. She has never been married and she does not have children.
As part of the ever-changing story, Daffy goons claim that 4 men have been arrested in connection with her ordeal. They claimed that the woman is in the custody of her family and that they refuse to allow her to speak to the journalists. They claim that the case is very serious, and is an honour case. However, Emani’s parents who are in Tobruk tell another story. They say that the Daffy goons attempted to bribe them to get their daughter to change her story. In fact they attempted to bribe Emani to change her story.
Let’s see if the journalists who were a witness to this young woman’s attempt to tell the world what had happened to her, will continue to follow up on the story. Since one journalist has been forced to leave Tripoli, I wonder what will happen to the rest. Already they have been threatened via email regarding the stories that they are writing. Will there be other threats?
Emani’s story seems to be one that has brought out the cynicism of the journalists, not against her, but against the Daffy regime. The lies that have been told by the Daffy goons about the woman’s case has meant that they are even less likely to believe Daffy when he continues to claim that civilians are being killed in what have been precision hits upon specified targets in Tripoli and elsewhere in Libya.
An Australian news site has more information that was posted from the Washington Post regarding the woman and her parents. Likewise the language of the report is more than a little unusual with regard to the way in which the story has been reported:
The Washington Post spoke to Aisha Ahmed, from the rebel-held eastern city of Tobruk, in a phone interview in which she said she was proud of her courageous daughter Eman al Obaidi.
“I am very happy, very proud,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed told The Post that her daughter, 26, was a law student in Tripoli.
A rebel activist who was with Ahmed at the time of the interview said a government official had urged Ahmed to persuade her daughter to change her story.
“They said they will give her a new house and a lot of money and anything she wanted,” Hasan Modeer said. The message was passed on to Obaidi who refused, he said.
