Iman al-Obeidi
by Amelia // 30 March 2011, 12:51
I posted this before realising Jolene had just put up a post on the same subject, but since we both provide different information and links I'll leave this up unless moderators wish otherwise.
Warning: This post may be triggering for discussion of rape.
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This story of a woman raped has been in the Metro for the last couple of days (spot the early morning commuter) and is getting a lot of attention around the world. Why? 1) Because the alleged perpetrators are 15 men in Gaddafi's militia who the woman claims raped her over two days, and 2) the woman in question burst into a Tripoli hotel at breakfast time to cry out her story to foreign journalists - before being covered up and dragged away.
She was a clearly distraught woman who burst into the restaurant as we were having breakfast and shouted, lifting her skirt to show lacerations on her thighs.“Look what [Muammer] Gaddafi has done to me,” she shrieked. [...]
Hearing the disturbance, a group of waiters and waitresses came over and tried at first to soothe her, then, when that did not work, to shut her up.
Suddenly a melee broke out between journalists and hotel staff. A group of athletic leather-jacketed men barrelled in and began throwing us around the room, chasing Ms Obeidi around the restaurant and finally putting a coat over her head. Many of the journalists at the Rixos jumped into the fray, trying to protect her, but it was a battle we were certain to lose.
It gets worse. The hotel staff weren't working for the hotel. The government is attempting to discredit al-Obeidi, apparently a lawyer, by stating she was drunk, mentally disturbed and a prostitute. The journalist who wrote the above article was deported for "inaccuracies" in his writing. The perpetrator is thought to be high-ranking, a cousin of Gaddafi's. The government claim she has in her sister's custody, but her family say she is being kept as a hostage while her family are coerced and bribed into pressuring her to retract her accusation. And, worst of all, now al-Obeidi faces criminal charges for her accusation.
Two points from the government's spokesman Mussa Ibrahim:
"The boys she accused of rape are making a case against her because it's a grave offence to accuse someone of a sexual crime." [...] On Tuesday, he expressed frustration at repeated questions about the Obeidi case when, as he put it, Libya is facing daily air strikes in which civilians are being killed and injured.
It's a grave offence to accuse someone of a sexual crime. Civilians are being killed and injured. Women do not count. Not an unfamiliar message, but to be illustrated so blatantly is horrific.
I cannot imagine the sheer courage it must have taken for al-Obeidi to go to such lengths to make sure her story is heard. My thoughts are with her and her family, and I hope she emerges from this safely.
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luise // Posted 30 March 2011 at 13:22
This is just horrible, i pray that nothing worse happens to her. oh and prostitues, menatally ill people and drunk women can get raped, what a stupid comment.
Jennifer Drew // Posted 30 March 2011 at 13:56
One need look no further than the UK to regularly read about women and girls who bravely charge males with raping them. Whereupon immediately these female survivors become the supposed 'accusers' and the male perpetrators become the 'innocent victims.'
Remember it is a grave offence for women to charge any male with rape - because rape rarely happens does it not? Even worse rape is rarely committed by normal males is it not?
Iman Al-Obeidi is a very, very brave and courageous woman - a hero in fact - but malestream media will never acknowledge this. Instead Ms. Obeidi like so many female survivors is being subjected to sexualised insults and attempts at discrediting her character.
But even to acknowledge the immense courage of Ms. Al-Obeidi will doubtless be used as claiming 'feminists are reducing yet another woman to victimhood!' Male domination over women must be maintained at all costs.
Amelia // Posted 31 March 2011 at 10:04
Jennifer, I completely agree with you. I couldn't find a sensitive way to say it so I left it out, but I hope media reporting on al-Obeidi develops in such a way as to provide a framework with which we can talk about rape in the UK with non-feminists and challenge people's preconceptions in everyday conversation.
I'm not sure I share your cynicism about the way in which al-Obeidi's story will be reported. Due to the intensely personal nature of al-Obeidi's encounter with the foreign journalists, not to mention the obvious injustice and human rights infractions as she was silenced and removed, there are already reporters approaching rape in a much more sympathetic and open-minded approach than usual. I hope that this continues and develops, providing some context (or even drawing parallels) for the issues of rape survivors in the UK.
There is of course a political agenda behind this (if she'd been raped by the rebel militia I wonder if the story would have had quite the same impact or response) but it's probably the first time most of the reporters have been face-to-face with a woman in distress talking about her rape. I know I may just be being naive, but this is an unusual situation for anyone to be faced with, and I can't help but hope that it has had an effect on those people with the communication channels to raise awareness and shape the public discussion.