Iman al-Obeidi (also spelled Eman al-Obeidy; ; born circa 1982) is a former Libyan postgraduate law student who received worldwide media attention during the Libyan Civil War. This was because she burst into the restaurant of the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli and told the international press corps there that Libyan troops had beaten and gang-raped her. Her public statement challenged both the Gaddafi government and the taboo against discussing sex crimes in Libya.Jacinto, Leela. "Rape of Iman Al-Obaidi Is Rape of Libya by Qadhafi and his Thugs", Al-Jazeera, April 3, 2011. For her postgraduate law studies, see "Parents of Libyan woman who claimed rape tell TV she's held hostage at Gadhafi's compound", Associated Press, March 28, 2011.
Government security forces dragged her out of the hotel to an unknown destination, and attacked journalists who tried to help her. Government representatives claimed she was drunk, mentally ill, a prostitute, and a thief, and said she would be charged with slander.Clover, Charles. "Lone, brave woman exposes truth of Libya", The Financial Times, March 28, 2011. The Washington Post described her as a "symbol of defiance against Gaddafi."Bahrampour, Tara and Sly, Liz. "Libyan government offered money to appease Iman al-Obaidi, woman in rape-claim case, mother says", The Washington Post, March 27, 2011.
She was released from government detention after three days, and was interviewed several times by Libya TV—an opposition satellite channel—and by CNN, during which she offered graphic details of her rape and subsequent detention by government officials.For the CNN interview, see Cooper, Anderson. "Alleged Libyan rape victim speaks out", AC360, CNN, April 4, 2011. For background, see "Alleged Libyan rape victim no longer in government custody", CNN, April 4, 2011. For the Libya TV interview, see That she was, in effect, under house arrest, see Kirkpatrick, David. "After Rape Report in Libya, Woman Sees Benefit in Publicity", The New York Times, April 4, 2011. For CNN update, see "Video: 'Please do not forget me,' says Al-Obeidy", CNN, April 11, 2011. She fled Libya with a defecting military officer, who helped her cross into Tunisia, dressed in a Berber tribal costume to hide her identity. She was initially offered protection by European diplomats in QatarRobertson, Nic. "Alleged rape victim flees Libya", CNN, May 8, 2011. Gilligan, Andrew. "Libyan rape victim escapes to Tunisia with defecting military officer", The Daily Telegraph, May 9, 2011. and applied for refugee status there. After initially protecting her, in early June 2011 Qatar forcibly deported her back to Libya."Alleged Libyan rape victim deported from Qatar back to Libya", CNN, June 2, 2011. On June 4, 2011, she was granted asylum in the United States with the help of Hillary Clinton.WebCite query result; accessed June 24, 2015.
Al-Obeidi settled in Colorado under the name Eman Ali. She was later charged with a number of violent offenses, including a February 2014 assault on two patrons at a downtown bar in Boulder, Colorado for which she was convicted in May 2015 of a Class 4 felony.
Background Iman al-Obeidi was one of ten children born in Tobruk to Aisha and Atik al-Obeidi. Her father was a customs agent. Her mother told CNN that Iman had always wanted to be a journalist, but due to the lack of press freedom in Libya, Iman decided to study law instead.Sayah, Reza. , CNN, March 30, 2011. She graduated in law from the Omar Al-Mukhtar University in Bayda, and had been living in Tripoli for the past year with her sister, Amal, either interning at a law firm or working in a tourism office, while pursuing postgraduate studies.That she was working in a tourism office, see For more details from her family, see For her graduation, and that she was interning in Tripoli, see Sotloff, Steven. "The rape of Iman al-Obeidi: The Libyan regime's other crisis", Time Magazine, March 29, 2011. That she was working as a lawyer and pursuing postgraduate studies, see "Parents of Libyan woman who claimed rape tell TV she's held hostage at Gadhafi's compound", Associated Press, March 28, 2011. That she was living with her sister, and for information about the sister and brother-in-law, see
March 2011 controversy
Appearance at the Rixos Al Nasr hotel Al-Obeidi entered the Rixos Al Nasr hotel on March 26, 2011, later telling CNN she had gained entry by pretending to be a member of staff. After finding foreign journalists in the restaurant, she showed them her injuries, which The New York Times described as "a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to come from binding around her hands and feet."
She told the journalists she had been stopped two days earlier at a checkpoint on Salahiddeen Road in Tripoli, while in a car with her sister's husband, later reported as Salih Hamid al-Aguri. When the security personnel heard her eastern Libyan accent, she was ordered to produce her identity card, and when they learned she was from Tobruk—where rebel forces were active—they detained her. She named the leader of the group who took her as Mansour Ibrahim Ali.Miller, Jonathan. "Libya: a woman's cry for help in a Tripoli hotel", Channel 4 News (UK), March 26, 2011. For more details of what happened at the checkpoint, see Sotloff, Steven. "The rape of Iman al-Obeidi: The Libyan regime's other crisis", Time magazine, March 29, 2011. She was held for two days, during which she said she was tied up, urinated and defecated upon, and raped by 15 men, some of them videotaping the attack.Kirkpatrick, David. "Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape", The New York Times, March 26, 2011. For the report from Michael Georgy of Reuters, who spoke to her briefly, see Golovnina, Maria and Georgy, Michael. "Woman cries for help, says abused by Gaddafi men", Reuters.com, March 26, 2011. She said local residents near the place she was held had helped her escape.
There was a scuffle in the hotel as government officials and hotel staff tried to silence her. Several journalists were kicked, punched, and knocked over as they tried to help or speak to her. Security forces punched Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 News in the face for coming to her defense, pushed Charles Clover of the Financial Times to the ground and kicked him, smashed a CNN camera, and pointed a gun at a television crew.
Clover was later deported; before the incident, he had been told there were "inaccuracies in his reports." A member of the hotel's staff told Miller that the people involved in the violence, who were wearing hotel uniforms, did not in fact work for the hotel. Her attackers accused al-Obeidi of being a "traitor to Gaddafi"; two women grabbed table knives to threaten both her and the journalists, one then throwing a blanket over al-Obeidi's head in an attempt to muffle her. She had specifically asked to speak to Reuters and The New York Times; Michael Georgy of Reuters was able to talk to her briefly before she was taken away. She was finally subdued, dragged out of the hotel, and driven in an unmarked car to an unknown location.
Gaddafi government response There was confusion for several days as to whether she was in government custody or with her family. At a press conference on March 26, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said investigators had found al-Obeidi was drunk and possibly mentally ill, a suggestion that raised fears she would face indefinite incarceration in a government-controlled mental institution, continuing the list of forced disappearances the opposition charges the Gaddafi regime with.
After journalists demanded to see her, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told CNN that five men, including the son of a high-ranking Libyan police officer, had been arrested in connection with the alleged rape."Libyan woman bursts into hotel to tell her story of rape", CNN, March 26, 2011. Kaim said al-Obeidi was being held at the headquarters of Libyan National Intelligence, was doing well, and would be provided with legal aid. Ibrahim withdrew the allegation that she was mentally ill,Sly, Liz. "After Libyan woman’s rape claims, methods of Gaddafi government put on display", washingtonpost.com, March 26, 2011. but then suggested she was a thief and a prostitute () who had been on a prearranged meeting with one of the alleged rapists. This was rejected by al-Obeidi's 21-year-old sister Mawra: "We come from a good family. We study at university. Is this the type of people who engage in such horrible acts?"
Ibrahim expressed frustration about the international furore over al-Obeidi while Libya was suffering daily air-raids and massive civilian casualties. On March 27 he said al-Obeidi had been released and was with her sister. On March 28 her parents denied this, saying she was being held at Gaddafi's compound in Bab al-Azizia. According to one rebel activist, Gaddafi government representatives telephoned her mother at three o'clock in the morning on March 27, offering al-Obeidi "a new house and a lot of money and anything she wanted" if she would change her story. Her mother is reported to have spoken to al-Obeidi by telephone, and she replied, "I will die rather than change my words."
On March 29 Ibrahim told reporters that the men al-Obeidi accused of rape were making a case against her, and that she was facing criminal charges: "The boys she accused are bringing a case against her because it's a very grave offense to accuse someone of a sexual crime." He said al-Obeidi's criminal case against her alleged rapists had been dropped because she refused to undergo a medical examination. On April 3 Gaddafi supporters posted on the Web what they said was a pornographic video made by al-Obeidi. A state media reporter gave a copy to The New York Times, which described it as a homemade video of a belly dancer, relatively chaste according to the newspaper, and bearing little resemblance to al-Obeidi.Kirkpatrick, David D. "After Rape Report in Libya, Woman Sees Benefit in Publicity", nytimes.com, April 4, 2011. Also see Kirkpatrick, David D. "Militia members sue woman who accused them of rape", nytimes.com, March 29, 2011.
Release from detention, interviews
April 3: Telephone interview with Libya TV Al-Obeidi was first heard from again in public on April 3, when she talked by telephone to Libya TV, a new opposition satellite channel. During an emotional interview, she told them she had been in government detention for three days, but had been released and was in Tripoli; she said the Attorney-General had refused a request for her to visit her family in Tobruk. She said that during her detention she had been interrogated by Libyan intelligence—the Jamahiriya el-Mukhabarat—as well as the Criminal Investigation Department, and the Directorate of Security. Their "only request," she said, was that she "come out on the Libyan state channel and say that those who kidnapped [her] were not from Gaddafi's security forces, rather they were from the revolutionaries and armed gangs." She refused. She said a medical examiner confirmed her rape claim and the Attorney-General's office said it would "take all necessary measures to arrest those who were responsible."
April 3–5: Telephone interviews with CNN She spoke to CNN by telephone several times between April 3 and 5, interviewed via an interpreter by Anderson Cooper, and on April 6 Gaddafi's son, Saadi, arranged for CNN reporter Nic Robertson to interview her on camera."Eman al-Obeidy interview", CNN, April 7, 2011. For details of how the interview was arranged, see "Al-Obeidy interview 'didn't come easy'", CNN, April 7, 2011. For the above details in text, and for Saadi Gaddafi's comment that the men should face charges, see Robertson, Nic. , CNN, April 7, 2011.