Libyan Woman Beaten

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Yes, it's the same one:

 

The Libyan woman whose alleged rape by security forces received worldwide attention has been deported from Qatar back to Benghazi in Libya.

 

Eman al-Obeidy had been awaiting resettlement as a refugee, and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had prepared papers for her departure from Qatar to begin a new life. But Qatari authorities took her and her parents from a hotel in the capital city of Doha and forced them onto a military plane that left Qatar early Thursday.

 

A UNHCR official told CNN that his agency had made repeated requests to the Qatari authorities not to deport al-Obeidy, and that unnamed third parties had also made appeals to Qatar.

 

"We tried all night to prevent her deportation," said Vincent Cochetel of the UNHCR office in Washington. He said the Qatari authorities had informed UNHCR that they had a court order and that al-Obeidy's visa had expired. They ignored UNHCR's arguments that she already had refugee status, he said.

 

 

 

Alleged rape victim flees Libya RELATED TOPICS

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Cochetel said al-Obeidy and her parents were kept at the airport for several hours while negotiations continued.

 

Eventually, the plane left Doha, arriving in Benghazi, which is held by Libyan rebels, a few hours later.

 

CNN spoke by phone with al-Obeidy from Benghazi, where she had gone into hiding. She said she had been beaten by the Qataris, handcuffed and put on a plane. She said everything was taken from her and her parents, including cell phones, her laptop, and money.

 

Al-Obeidy received worldwide attention on March 26, when she burst into the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli while international journalists staying there were having breakfast. She told reporters she had been taken from a checkpoint east of Tripoli and held against her will for two days while being beaten and raped by 15 men.

 

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday that the department is "very concerned" about al-Obeidy's safety and had communicated with her. He said officials were working with international organizations to make sure she is safe and finds asylum in "a third country."

 

A number of non-governmental organizations said they were making efforts to get al-Obeidy out of Benghazi to a destination in Europe in the next few days.

 

The Transitional National Council -- the rebel leadership -- had taken al-Obeidy to Qatar, whose government is allied with the rebels. But once there, she made public statements saying the council was using her. The council denied that -- but her presence in Qatar appears to have become an embarrassment to the organization.

 

The UNHCR said it was seeking an explanation from Qatari authorities for al-Obeidy's deportation.

 

CNN's attempts to reach Qatari officials for comment were unsuccessful.

 

Hours before her deportation, Obeidy told CNN that armed guards had been posted outside her room preventing the UNHCR representative from assisting her.

 

Such deportations are illegal under international law, according to Human Rights Watch.

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Never saw this coming. On her way to US for asylum...

 

 

 

 

BENGHAZI, Libya — A Libyan woman who claimed she was raped by Gadhafi troops has left Libya on her way to the United States, her sister said Sunday.

 

Marwa al-Obeidi said her sister Iman was flown out of Benghazi early Sunday morning. It was not immediately known where she was going in the U.S.

 

Wearing gray pajamas and sitting with her mother in a cramped hotel room in Benghazi, Marwa al-Obeidi said she had spent the day crying because it was hard to see her sister leave, but knew this trip was best for her.

 

"We just want a chance for her to be treated psychologically and to rest. My sister has just been through so much," Marwa told The Associated Press.

 

It appeared difficult for their mother, Aisha bin Ismail, to speak about her daughter. She turned her head away to take a breath and hold back tears as she described Iman's last few weeks.

 

"Iman locked herself in her room in Doha and refused to leave the house. She would get nightmares and fall off the bed," bin Ismail told The Associated Press.

 

In March, al-Obeidi rushed into Tripoli's Rixos Hotel where all foreign correspondents are forced to stay while covering the part of Libya under Gadhafi's control. She shouted out her story of being stopped at a a checkpoint, dragged away and gang-raped by soldiers.

 

As she spoke emotionally and as photographers and reporters recorded her words, government minders, whose job is to escort reporters around the area, jumped her and dragged her away.

 

She disappeared for several days, then turned up in Tunisia and later Qatar. She was rarely heard from until Thursday, when she was suddenly expelled from Qatar and ended up in Benghazi. Qatar offered no explanation.

 

Al-Obeidi has said she was targeted by Gadhafi's troops because she is from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold. Her rape claim could not be independently verified. The Associated Press identifies only rape victims who volunteer their names.

 

Marwa al-Obeidi told The Associated Press that a human rights group aided by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arranged for Iman and their father to travel in a private plane to Washington, D.C. by way of Malta and Austria.

 

The State Department expressed concern for al-Obeidi's safety after she was deported from Qatar. A U.N. human rights body called the deportation a violation of international law, because she was a recognized refugee.

 

Libyan authorities have alternately labeled al-Obeidi a drunk, a prostitute and a thief.

 

Marwa al-Obeidi maintained that Qatar was friendly with the family until the last few hours before deportation. She said that Qatari authorities gave the family five hours notice to get on a military plane and leave Doha.

 

"Iman wanted to travel directly to America from Qatar, but for some logistical reasons Qatar wouldn't allow it. That's when they didn't treat us very nicely," said Marwa al-Obeidi . She and her mother refused to let AP photographers or TV crews take their pictures.

 

Iman al-Obeidi's family said that while they had no plans to leave Libya, they encouraged Iman al-Obeidi to travel abroad because she constantly lived in fear there.

 

"Iman constantly felt scared and threatened even in Benghazi," said bin Ismail. "She was worried that at any moment Gadhafi's men would be near to kill her."

 

She said that the United States was one of her biggest champions since the beginning of her cause especially since it galvanized world opinion against Gadhafi and his record of alleged human rights abuses.

 

Marwa al-Obeidi said Iman's top priority in the U.S. would be to receive psychological treatment and to continue her studies there.

 

"I am sure they will greet her with such warmth and kindness." she said. "We are happy for her."

 

Marwa al-Obeidi told The Associated Press that a human rights group aided by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arranged for Iman and their father to travel in a private plane to the U.S. by way of Malta and Austria.

 

The State Department expressed concern for al-Obeidi's safety after she was deported from Qatar. A U.N. human rights body called the deportation a violation of international law, because she was a recognized refugee.

 

Libyan authorities have alternately labeled al-Obeidi a drunk, a prostitute and