Two days after she was dragged away from Western reporters when trying to tell them about being gang-raped by at least 15 of Gadhafi’s troops, Iman al-Obeidi has not been seen in public.  Her parents told al-Jazeera today that al-Obeidi is being held hostage at Gadhafi’s Tripoli headquarters, as some sort of human shield. They also said that they were told to urge their daughter to retract the rape charge, or else she would not be released.  Government officials had claimed that she had been released.

Al-Obeidi’s parents also denounced the latest claim of the Libyan spokesperson (who previously said al-Obeidi was drunk and mentally ill) that their daughter is a prostitute.  Musa Ibrahim told reporters today that “This is her line of work.  She knows the boys for years. She goes out with them for business. She has a whole file of petty theft and prostitution.”

Al-Obeidi’s mother told Al-Jazeera that she was not ashamed of her daughter admitting to the entire world that she had been raped. “I don’t feel ashamed, instead my head is up high,” she said, adding that her daughter “broke the barrier that no other man could break” by coming forward about her rape.  Al-Jazeera also has an interview with doctors in eastern Egypt who said that they are finding Viagra pills and used condoms in the pockets of dead soldiers, evidence that rape is being used by the troops to terrorize civilians.  Video of mom’s interview after the jump.

Read more »

Who wants some ’70s feminism and stinky perfume with their earworm this morning?

Explanation: I was pulling some bacon out of the freezer and started singing the song. Mr. SFL had absolutely no idea what I was singing, and even after showing him these two clips, he has no memory at all of this commercial from the late ’70s. I remember watching it and being absolutely transfixed by all the opportunities out there for women.

Read more »

A Libyan woman burst into a Tripoli hotel filled with foreign journalists, saying she had escaped from where she had been tortured by Kaddhafi’s soldiers for more than two days. Security and hotel staff tussled with her and reporters for more than an hour, before she was ultimately dragged away and put in a car. The British reporter from the Financial Times (the man in the light blue oxford shirt who is seen trying to protect her and who attempted to get between her and the car) was deported after the incident, according to the New York Times. She told the reporters her name is Eman al-Obeidy, showed them bruises on her face and body, scratches on her body, rope burns at her ankles and wrists, and blood on her inner thighs, and said that more than 15 soldiers had raped her, and urinated and defecated on her. A spokesperson for the Libyan government initially said al-Obeidy was drunk and mentally ill, and that she is back in jail.

[ MSNBC Flash video not available. ]

UPDATE: More details and raw video from the NYT reporter at the scene. UK’s Channel 4 coverage. Video from Reuters of the spokesman saying “she was drunk” and being mocked by reporters after the jump.

Read more »

Abercrombie & Fitch’s summer line of swimsuits includes a padded push-up bikini top for 7-year-olds.

This news comes to us the day after a story about a mother who is grooming her 8-year-old daughter to someday be a famous celebrity by injecting her with Botox and giving her a monthly “virgin wax” to make sure she doesn’t develop pubic hair because “it will save her a fortune in waxing when she’s older.”

We are fucking doomed.

The ravishingly gorgeous actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career was often overshadowed by a tumultuous life of multiple marriages, great tragedies, addiction, and various health ailments, died this morning in Los Angeles from congestive heart failure at the age of 79.

Her seven decades in front of the public’s eye is well-documented in an excellent obituary from the LA Times, but her most lasting legacy will likely be her early advocacy for people with HIV, and for additional research and destigmatization of the disease.

Read more »

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it would hear an appeal from a death row inmate who is slated for execution in Alabama because of a mix-up in the mailroom of one of New York’s most prominent white shoe law firms.

Two associates at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell were representing pro bono a client in Alabama named Cory Maples in his death row appeals. An Alabama state court sent the associates two copies of a judicial order in Maples’ case, but since the associates no longer worked at S&C, the mailroom staff sent the orders back to the court unopened and stamped “Return to Sender.”  By the time Maples had found new counsel, the deadline for appealing from the court’s order had passed.  The 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals held that it was too late for Maples to appeal, even though the fault was completely that of his attorneys.

The New York Times notes that while the blame has been shifted to the clerks in the mailroom,

An Alabama lawyer, John G. Butler Jr., also represented Mr. Maples and also received a copy of the ruling. Mr. Butler said in a sworn statement that he was Mr. Maples’s lawyer in name only, serving as local counsel for the New York lawyers handling the case. He said he had not passed the ruling along to them or to Mr. Maples.

[WSJ Law Blog]

[NYT]

Sarah Palin began her two-day tour of Israel yesterday with a visit to the Wailing Wall, where she left a note with a prayer in the wall.

Dear Stinquers, what do you think she wrote in the note? Put your suggestions in the comments below.

[MSNBC]