CBS News reporter Lara Logan was reportedly "brutally raped and assaulted" by a group of men in Egypt. Here's the statement from CBS:
On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 MINUTES story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy.
In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.
There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.
This, in addition to the assault on CNN's Anderson Cooper, and on Sara Sidner in Mumbia, India two years ago, is a good reason why reporters should carry guns. The foreign governments don't seem to want to protect them. And rapid men tasting freedom for the first time seem to want to test what they can get away with by harming female reporters.
It's not that she's white and blonde; just ask Sara, who's brunette and black. All they have to be is of an "American affect" and attractive in the middle of a mob. Shooting an attacker in the leg would change the game and make life better for women reporters like Lara Logan.
Come to think of it, Anderson Cooper could have used a gun, too.
From Karen J. Greenberg, Executive Director, Center on Law and Security
ReplyDeletehttp://centerlineblog.org/2011/02/16/official-cls-statement-on-nir-rosen/
Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line yesterday with his comments about Lara Logan. I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments. They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable. Mr. Rosen tells me that he misunderstood the severity of the attack on her in Cairo. He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted. However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted. We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.
This is a tough woman, and as difficult as the details of her assault are, the perpetrators should be exposed for who and what they are. The Mubarak regime was behind the earlier detainment and torture. Were his henchmen behind this assault too? While protesting the abuse of Muslim women by non Muslim men, Muslim men seem to think that non Muslim women are free to abuse. Come to think of it, they seem to think that all women are free to be sexually abused unless complicit to the religious police.
ReplyDeletewe wish you recover soon and your passion to work heals your wounds of past
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newscollective.com/blog/?p=3729