Tripoli, June 03: A Libyan woman who claimed she was gang-raped by Muammar Gaddafi's troops was deported from Qatar where she sought refuge, and is now in Benghazi, said a UN official on Thursday.
Her sudden expulsion cast light again on one of the most widely covered incidents of alleged abuses by Gaddafi's forces, as NATO continued its relentless nightly bombing raids on Libyan military and security bases, backing rebels who are trying to unseat Gaddafi after a four-decade dictatorship.
A series of at least 10 NATO strikes hit targets in and around the Libyan capital early Friday. The attacks targeted military barracks close to Gaddafi's sprawling compound in central Tripoli, a police station and a military base, said a government official speaking on customary condition of anonymity. He said it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
The US government on Thursday expressed concern for the safety of the Libyan woman, Eman al-Obeidi.
In March, al-Obeidi rushed into Tripoli's Rixos Hotel where all foreign correspondents are forced to stay while covering the part of Libya under Gaddafi's control, and shouted out her story of being stopped at a checkpoint, dragged away and gang-raped by soldiers.
As she spoke emotionally, and as photographers and reporters recorded her words, government minders, whose job is to escort reporters around the area, jumped her and dragged her away.
She disappeared for several days, then turned up in Tunisia and later Qatar. She was heard from little until Thursday, when she was suddenly expelled from Qatar and ended up in Benghazi, the Libyan rebels' de facto capital. No explanation was forthcoming from Qatar.
Rebel spokesman Jalal el-Gallal said al-Obeidi arrived in Benghazi by plane. "She's welcome to stay, this is her country," el-Gallal said.
The UN Refugee Agency's Sybella Wilkes said al-Obeidi should have been allowed to stay in Qatar, and her deportation runs contrary to international law.
Al-Obeidi "is a recognised refugee, and we don't consider there is any good reason for her deportation”, Wilkes said.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US was "monitoring the situation" and working to ensure al-Obeidi's safety.
"We're concerned for her safety, given all that's happened to her. And we're going to work to make sure that she's kept safe, first and foremost, and that she finds appropriate asylum," Toner told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
Libyan authorities have alternately labelled al-Obeidi a drunk, a prostitute and a thief.
Al-Obeidi has maintained that she was targeted by Gaddafi's troops because she is from Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.
Al-Obeidi's rape claim could not be independently verified.
Human rights violations are one aspect of the rebels' complaints against the Gaddafi regime.
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