CATHOLIC ONLINE REPORT: A Libyan woman who says she was brutally gang-raped by Colonel Moammar Khadafi's forces is on her way for psychological help in the United States. Marwa al-Obeidi said her sister Iman has been flown out of Benghazi. It's not immediately was not known where she was going in the U.S.
Iman al-Obeidi had rushed into Tripoli's Rixos Hotel in March where she shouted out her story of being stopped at a checkpoint, dragged away and gang-raped by soldiers.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Al-Obeidi told reporters she had spent the day crying because it was hard to see her sister leave -- but knew the trip was the 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.
"Iman locked herself in her room in Doha and refused to leave the house. She would get nightmares and fall off the bed," Aisha bin Ismail said of her daughter. She turned her head away to hold back tears as she described her daughter's last few weeks.
Iman al-Obeidi had rushed into Tripoli's Rixos Hotel in March where all foreign correspondents are being forced to stay while covering the part of Libya under Khadafi's control.
She shouted out her story of being stopped at a checkpoint, dragged away and gang-raped by soldiers. As photographers and reporters recorded her words, government minders dragged her away.
Iman al-Obeidi later turned up in Tunisia and then in Qatar. She was suddenly expelled from Qatar this week and ended up in Benghazi. Qatar offered no explanation.
Al-Obeidi has said she was targeted by Khadafi's troops because she is from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold, although her rape claim could not be independently verified.
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 claims 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 pictures be taken by photographers and TV crews.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=41671
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