Tripoli Shock: Minders Snatch 'Rape Victim'

A shocking scene occurred in Tripoli on Saturday when a gun was pointed at Sky News after a woman tried to tell foreign journalists about being raped and tortured by Libyan officials.

A visibly very distressed woman burst into the breakfast room of the hotel where we are staying and attempted to speak out about an ordeal at the hands of Gaddafi supporters.

As correspondents here in Tripoli under the supervision of the Libyan government, we are not allowed to move around freely.

However, it has become apparent to those in the city that there are a clutch of journalists in two hotels.

We were having breakfast in our hotel when the woman broke in and said she'd been picked up at a checkpoint in the city.

Woman who burst into Tripoli hotel gagged by minder

The woman was gagged by hand and taken away by minders

She claimed she had been held for two days, and that she had been raped and tortured.

The woman showed marks on her body which she said she had received as a result of beatings by the people who were holding her, Gaddafi supporters.

She showed marks on her legs and on her wrists, which she suggested came from handcuffs.

In a state of great distress, she said she had suffered this beating because she was from Benghazi, the city where the uprising began in the east of the country.

Hers is not the voice they want heard in this country - in the commotion a gun was pointed towards the Sky News team in an attempt to stop them filming

Sky News foreign correspondent Lisa Holland

As journalists tried to speak to her, things got out of control and the police minders waded in, trying to physically shut her up and stop her talking.

Hers is not the voice they want heard in this country. In the commotion a gun was pointed towards the Sky News team in an attempt to stop them filming.

A team from another news organisation had their camera smashed in front of them.

woman who claimed she was raped by Gaddafi supporters

The woman, from Benghazi, was threatened by minders as she spoke

After about 15 minutes the woman was dragged outside the hotel and put into a waiting car.

As I tried to get in the way, a minder put his hand over the woman's mouth to stop her talking.

She was driven away at speed and we have no idea where she was taken. Her story could not be immediately verified, but the scene provided glimpse of the atmosphere in the city.

Government officials initially said they knew nothing about this woman, although another official later added the woman's mental health would be assessed.