Protest-riven Tahrir Square is becoming a savage minefield for women, as French and American female journalists are brutally beaten and raped, and Egypt’s ‘naked blogger’ mobbed. The latest victim is journalist for channel France 3 Caroline Sinz.
Sinz and her cameraman were attacked in the square on Thursday. She says several youths and men tore off her clothes and beat her, humiliating her in a way that she claims could be considered rape. After almost an hour, other Egyptians came to her rescue.
On the same day, US-Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy, an author for The Guardian and the Toronto Star, announced she had suffered brutal sexual and physical assault. She was arrested in Tahrir by Egyptian riot police and says that during the 12 hours she spent in Cairo’s Interior Ministry, she had bones broken in both wrists by security officials, who also grabbed her breasts and genitals.
RT’s own correspondent Paula Slier is reporting from Cairo, and she notes in her Twitter that she is “not feeling safe walking around Tahrir”.
It seems the brutality is not reserved for foreigners, either. Egypt’s ‘naked blogger’ is also reported to have been mobbed: Aliaa al-Mahdy, a young Egyptian student who posted a photo of herself naked on her blog, was allegedly beaten by an angry crowd. CBS channel footage shows the 20-year-old being dragged into the seething mob and thrown to the ground. The channel claims it was Aliaa al-Mahdy, which is confirmed by viewers in their comments. However, the last entry on Aliaa’s Facebook page was 10 hours after the video went on air, causing some to wonder why she does not mention the incident. It simply reads, “no one knows my whereabouts, and whoever tries to attack me will get what they deserve.”
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Sinz and her cameraman were attacked in the square on Thursday. She says several youths and men tore off her clothes and beat her, humiliating her in a way that she claims could be considered rape. After almost an hour, other Egyptians came to her rescue.
On the same day, US-Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy, an author for The Guardian and the Toronto Star, announced she had suffered brutal sexual and physical assault. She was arrested in Tahrir by Egyptian riot police and says that during the 12 hours she spent in Cairo’s Interior Ministry, she had bones broken in both wrists by security officials, who also grabbed her breasts and genitals.
RT’s own correspondent Paula Slier is reporting from Cairo, and she notes in her Twitter that she is “not feeling safe walking around Tahrir”.
It seems the brutality is not reserved for foreigners, either. Egypt’s ‘naked blogger’ is also reported to have been mobbed: Aliaa al-Mahdy, a young Egyptian student who posted a photo of herself naked on her blog, was allegedly beaten by an angry crowd. CBS channel footage shows the 20-year-old being dragged into the seething mob and thrown to the ground. The channel claims it was Aliaa al-Mahdy, which is confirmed by viewers in their comments. However, the last entry on Aliaa’s Facebook page was 10 hours after the video went on air, causing some to wonder why she does not mention the incident. It simply reads, “no one knows my whereabouts, and whoever tries to attack me will get what they deserve.”
Read more
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