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Iman al-Obeidi, Libya Woman Claiming Rape, Deported BackTo Libya

Iman Alobeidi Deported

06/ 2/11 04:09 PM ET   AP

BENGHAZI — A U.N. official says a Libyan woman who claims she was gang-raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops has been deported from Qatar, where she sought refuge.

Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman for the United Nations' refugee organization, says Iman al-Obeidi is now in Benghazi.

Wilkes said Thursday that al-Obeidi was a recognized refugee and that there wasn't any "good reason" why she was deported from Doha, where she sought refuge last month.

Al-Obeidi made headlines in March when she rushed distraught into Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, seeking to speak to foreign reporters.

She claimed she was detained by a number of Gadhafi troops at a Tripoli checkpoint and raped.

As she told her story, al-Obeidi was tackled by government minders and dragged from the hotel.

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BENGHAZI — A U.N. official says a Libyan woman who claims she was gang-raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops has been deported from Qatar, where she sought refuge. Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman for t...
BENGHAZI — A U.N. official says a Libyan woman who claims she was gang-raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops has been deported from Qatar, where she sought refuge. Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman for t...
 
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13 minutes ago (10:39 AM)
I can't tell what is going on here but the UN decided to bomb Libya for the oil. Looks like oil would be a good bet to buy some stock
1 hour ago (9:24 AM)
Her story must have been to hard to believe. American media has been trying to tell it for her. And since her story there has been millionair­e accused of raping the hotel maid. Everybody but America is asking how could a man get that much sex driver at 70 years old. This country have a history of screaming rape and it stick if its someone they don't like. It took 200 year before a rape story wasn't believed about a black. In the mean time black women were producing mixed by the droves. It wasn't called rape it was called I own this and swear I don't like them I just make love to them. Looks like sex influenced the civil war.
10 hours ago (12:23 AM)
If she's in rebel controlled eastern Libya. Why can't NATO rescue her?
11 hours ago (12:10 AM)
The Arabs are not like us. We are looking at Arabs through our western eyes and that is wrong. Recognize the fact that in the Arab culture this is a common occurance. Women are still living in the past and kept that way by the Arab system. Honor killings, stonings, inter family rape, multiple wives, read some books by people who lived in the culture to educate yourself. Imagine being married and the man has absolute control, you raise a family for 20 years, have children and your husband decides to take on 3 more wives and you become marginaliz­ed. You are stuck in a bad situation but you cannot leave because if you leave without a man taking care of you, you will be subjected to rape by any man because you are a single woman. This is Arab reality.
9 hours ago (2:13 AM)
This is not cultural but human rights. Believe it r not mpst Arabs severly sympathize and want the same things you do. Yes they are old fashioned circa maybe US 1960 but this is beyond theale. Dont turn what is probably political manuveruin­g by a government into a cultural thing. Are all Americans torturers? Do you all only have 24 hours inwhich to save America?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dennybop
5 hours ago (5:28 AM)
Haven't you heard? The uprisings in the Arab world are partly driven by women who are trying to gain equality.
Arab culture is not the same as Moslem culture. Not all Arabs are Moslems. There are far more Moslems that aren't even Arabs. Not all Arab culture is as you describe it. Neither is all Moslem culture. I'd suggest you do a bit more in-depth reading of "some books by people who lived in the culture" (sic). You might discover there's quite a bit of difference between those living in Saudi Arabia and those in Morocco or Indonesia for instance.
13 hours ago (10:19 PM)
We need a powerful UN group that can go in and rescue these women. We need an agreed upon neutral zone where these women can find refuge.
12 hours ago (10:26 PM)
I agree. It's frustratin­g .A lot of work still needs to be done on this planet we call Earth.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
tangenjill
12 hours ago (10:49 PM)
Right on! Let's challenge the status quo and make this a priority. Stop exploitati­on now!
19 minutes ago (10:33 AM)
I think the West Bank would be a nice neutral zone
13 hours ago (9:37 PM)
This is actually very happy news, when this story came out a couple months ago I expected Iman al-Obeidi was going to be tortured and killed for speaking out. Moammar Gadhafi needs to be tried for war crimes in some sort of Nuremberg type setting.
14 hours ago (9:06 PM)
Awful shame. This is the kind of people many of you are sympathisi­ng with. When Shiria Law comes to the US maybe then your eyes will be opened.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
tangenjill
12 hours ago (10:50 PM)
Sharia law is NOT coming to the U.S. However, fundamenta­lism of ANY faith is really scary.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Isenki
Public campaign funding
8 hours ago (2:26 AM)
Why wouldn't we sympathize with raped women? Or are you suggesting we're sympathizi­ng with Moammar Gadhafi?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dennybop
5 hours ago (5:30 AM)
Sure. I suppose you're planning on rolling over and allowing Sharia law to take over your life? Grow up.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
maigrey
No GUT no glory!
5 hours ago (6:19 AM)
Speedball? Isn't that a hypodermic­ally delivered mix of cocaine and heroin? If so have another. Sharia law. You are a laugh riot.
15 hours ago (7:50 PM)
Shes looking for her 15 minutes of Fame.
13 hours ago (10:05 PM)
I realized I used a possibly banned word so let me post again.

GaddafiAHe­ro, I presume (and hope)your a 15 year old contrarian trying to get a rise out of people. I used to be like that at your age. I still am a bit of a jokester. But if you really are an adult I feel sorry for the women (or anyone else) in your life.
11 hours ago (11:51 PM)
I'm much older then 15, r@pe is apart of war it's not pretty ,but again this is war, and on no level am I joking about any of this.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Isenki
Public campaign funding
8 hours ago (2:30 AM)
lol no. Publicly admitting to being raped is probably the last way a woman in an Arab country would try to achieve 15 minutes of fame.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dennybop
5 hours ago (5:31 AM)
Grow up.
This comment has been removed due to violations of our [Guidelines]
This comment has been removed due to violations of our [Guidelines]
20 hours ago (2:35 PM)
Muslim countries working together to oppress women.
20 hours ago (2:45 PM)
I guess muslims are to blame for the Hollywood casting couch also, or the amount of money female profession­al athletes don’t get from the TV networks, or the amount of female leaders in the military
20 hours ago (2:57 PM)
Try to stay on-topic.
19 hours ago (3:50 PM)
What do you call rape, incest, battered women, and spousal homicide that happen every day in the West? Liberation of macho men or liberation of women? Do not make a political situation into a religious smear.
19 hours ago (4:01 PM)
By not acknowledg­ing the cultural aspects to this story (which are rooted in religion), you are keeping your head in the sand.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
eden4barack08
I'M IN! 2012
17 hours ago (5:41 PM)
"FIVE US soldiers were charged in a rape and multiple murder case that has outraged Iraqis, as evidence emerged that the rape victim was only 14, not over 20 as US officials had said."

http://new­s.scotsman­.com/world­/US-troops­-Iraq-rape­-victim.27­91049.jp

Muslim countries don't have the exclusive on that.
17 hours ago (5:49 PM)
This story is about the actions of Libya and Qatar.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Isenki
Public campaign funding
8 hours ago (2:32 AM)
Only a fraction of rapes are ever reported, so all these numbers are much higher in reality.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Six Gator
20 hours ago (2:32 PM)
So we allow the common judgement ot hold up, and "we" are the bad guys...we force our beliefs on the masses, and "we" are the bad guys...One of those lose-lose situations­.
20 hours ago (2:29 PM)
This does not bode well. I expect she'll be silenced somehow.

There can never be true democracy without human rights, and that includes women's rights. Specifical­ly, I am referring to the rights of women to their own "personhoo­d," (that is, the right not to be treated as the chattel of their husbands and fathers), the right to their own sexuality, and the right to not be treated as inherently corrupting­.
This comment has been removed due to violations of our [Guidelines]
21 hours ago (1:37 PM)
Looked like she's a 15~min fame. I'm afraid that she may drown away back to the Libyan society and that would be the end of her.
21 hours ago (1:53 PM)
You're a sick misogynist­. How can seeking protection after a political gang-rape be remotely equated in someone's brain as 'looking for 15 minutes of fame' is beyond me. Even if this were a false allegation to seek political asylum, to diminish the conditions that would drive a person to take desperate measures, endangerin­g one's life in an attempt to escape a terrible political situation, just speaks to the (male, American) privilege that you blindly carry.
14 hours ago (9:20 PM)
They can fix their own country, and we can kep our imperialis­t forces at home where they belong
And Iman just wants a job as a Journalist­, and figured that the Logan incident would be her ticket to the west and to a job
11 hours ago (11:59 PM)
Well, I think my point was not clear with you. It looked like we will not be hearing from her once she goes back to the Libyan society. We should be expecting the Libyan justice under Gadhifi administra­tion to follow up with her case, but I think it will not happen. Qatar do not want her around and sending her back anyway. In a way, she come and go, disappeari­ng forever and never seen again. volumexxvi­i, relax.
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JohnnyKong
Loyalty only to reason and logic.
16 hours ago (6:51 PM)
You should reserve your dumb commentary for Huffpost's Entertainm­ent section.