[Mr.Goodbar]

Two female foreign journalists have described harrowing sexual assaults carried out by crowds or police as they tried to cover demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy said she was sexually assaulted by police during hours under detention after taking part in protests on the sprawling square that has become a landmark of the Arab Spring.

"Besides beating me, the dogs of [central security forces] subjected me to the worst sexual assault ever," Eltahawy said on her Twitter account.
"5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers," she said.

"My left arm and right hand are broken [according] to xrays," she said, posting pictures of herself in casts.

Earlier Eltahawy, an award-winning journalist and public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues based in New York, tweeted that she had been released after having been beaten and arrested in the interior ministry building.

A US embassy representative in Cairo told London's Guardian that the reports of her detention were "very concerning" and that "US embassy consulate officers are engaging Egyptian authorities".



Later, a French journalist working for public television channel France 3, said she had been violently beaten and sexually assaulted while covering the protests.

Caroline Sinz told AFP that she and her cameraman, Salah Agrabi, had been confronted in a road leading from Tahrir to the interior ministry, the scene of days of deadly clashes between police and protesters demanding democratic change.

"We were filming in Mohammed Mahmud street when we were mobbed by young people who were about 14 or 15," said Sinz.

The journalist and her cameraman were then dragged by a group of men towards Tahrir Square where they became separated, she said.

"We were then assaulted by a crowd of men. I was beaten by a group of youngsters and adults who tore my clothes," she said. They then molested her in a way that "would be considered rape", she added.

"Some people tried to help me but failed. I was lynched. It lasted three quarters of an hour before I was taken out. I thought I was going to die," she said. Her cameraman was also beaten.

Sinz was finally rescued by a group of Egyptians and returned to her hotel, where she was assisted by the French embassy before being seen by a doctor.



'Grave human rights violations'

Media activists from Reporters Without Borders decried working conditions for journalists covering the fresh unrest and upcoming elections in Egypt.

"The chaos prevailing in Cairo and the resulting grave human rights violations are as bad as in the darkest hours of the revolution's earlier phase, in January and February," the media rights group said in a statement.

In February, CBS News reporter Lara Logan described in detail how she was victim of a sexual assault near Tahrir the same day President Hosni Mubarak fell from power.

Once back in the US, Logan said she was molested for more than 40 minutes by a group of 200 or 300 men.

The latest reports of sexual assault against journalists came as protesters in Tahrir Square continue to demand an end to military rule. At least 38 people have died and over 3000 have been injured since Saturday when the clashes began.

Other journalists are also thought to have been detained on Wednesday night. Eltahawy last wrote for the Guardian on Friday about a young Egyptian female blogger who had decided to post a naked photo of herself on her blog in an act of defiance.

The 44-year-old was born in Port Said, but later lived in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Israel, settling in the US in 2000.

In 2009, the European Union awarded her its Samir Kassir prize for Freedom of the Press, and last year she was awarded the Anna Lindh Foundation's special prize for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.

AFP with Guardian News & Media

[Steve]

It's an unfortunate thing to happen to anybody but they know the risks of covering these type of stories in the middle East or any other far off land where there is serious unrest, it would be like me going over to Egypt and being gassed and getting the crap beaten out of me then griping about it.

[daughterofthenight]

middle east. nuke it 'til it glows.

[ShowMeBlood]

Originally Posted by daughterothenight ↗

middle east. nuke it 'til it glows.

Occupy and then mass murder. Then we can have their land !

[daughterofthenight]

too much work. just nukem.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by ShowMeBlood ↗

Occupy and then mass murder. Then we can have their land !

And oil.

[ices]

Tell me again why supposedly free-thinking and smart women are in the middle of a shithole country full of boys and men who treat their dogs better than the girls/women of their country?

I dont blame women for being molested/raped by those stronger than them but when you are surrounded by crowds in the ME, you are not protected unless you've got a bomb strapped to your chest or have a few hired goons with you.

[BrownRock]

Lady in the 2nd picture is hot.