Lara Logan raped in Egypt
AFP | 16 February, 2011
Lara Logan: CBS says she was raped in Egypt.
CBS Correspondent Lara Logan is pictured in Cairo's Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted in this photograph taken on February 11, 2011
Top CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan suffered a "brutal" sexual assault at the hands of a mob in Egypt while covering the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak, her US network says.
"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," CBS said in a statement on Tuesday.
"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."
The incident took place on Cairo's central Tahrir Square last Friday, the day Mubarak stepped down, CBS said.
Logan, 39, was flown to the United States the next day.
"She is currently in the hospital recovering," the statement said.
South African-born Logan had been back in the country for a matter of days.
She and two CBS colleagues, as well as their Egyptian driver, were detained by the Egyptian miltary on February 2.
Logan was not hurt during the two-day detention but she told The Charlie Rose Show their driver was "extremely badly beaten" and was not released when she and her colleagues were.
The group was flown home to the United States on February 4, according to a CBS News internal memo obtained by television industry site TVNewser.
Logan travelled back to New York and told The Charlie Rose Show on February 7 that she wanted to go back to Egypt.
"You try to be smart about these things. Yes, I would go back, it would depend entirely on the circumstances," she said.
"If I could get an interview with Hosni Mubarak I would go back tomorrow to do that interview.
"Am I just going to go back and throw myself into the same circumstances? That doesn't seem smart."
Logan said it was difficult to stay away from the story.
"I feel in one sense like a failure, professionally, I feel like I failed, because I didn't deliver and I take that responsibility very seriously," she said.
"But fundamentally it's in my blood, to be there and to be on the street and to be listening to people and to do the best reporting that I can.
"At the same time I'm also aware of the fact that I put my family through a very difficult situation."
She returned to Egypt in the middle of last week, New York Daily News reported reported.
Before her detention on February 2, Logan filed a video piece on a dramatic shift she observed in the Egyptian military's stance towards the media.
"It was literally like flipping a switch, the army just shifted dramatically to a much more aggressive posture," she said.
"When our crew went out to film beauty shots early this morning, with no idea that the situation was now different, they were confronted by soldiers and plain clothes agents, they were armed, [the crew] were intimidated and bullied and in fact marched at gunpoint through the streets all the way back to our hotel.
"[It was] a very frightening experience and one that was repeated throughout the day for us because everywhere we went we were approached by people.
"We were accused of being more than journalists, very frightening suggestions were being made. Suggestions that really could be very dangerous for us."
Logan said they were essentially "trapped" in their hotel.
"We can go out without cameras but even then we're being watched everywhere we go and being confronted, people don't hesitate to come up and start questioning you and we're definitely being prevented from telling the story," she said.
Logan has covered the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, becoming one of the US media's most recognisable war correspondents.
She became CBS News chief foreign correspondent in 2006.
Logan has a two-year-old son, Joseph Washington, with her defence contractor-husband Joseph Burkett. The couple met in Iraq.
Georgina Robinson and AFP
AFP | 16 February, 2011
Lara Logan: CBS says she was raped in Egypt.
CBS Correspondent Lara Logan is pictured in Cairo's Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted in this photograph taken on February 11, 2011
Top CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan suffered a "brutal" sexual assault at the hands of a mob in Egypt while covering the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak, her US network says.
"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," CBS said in a statement on Tuesday.
"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."
The incident took place on Cairo's central Tahrir Square last Friday, the day Mubarak stepped down, CBS said.
Logan, 39, was flown to the United States the next day.
"She is currently in the hospital recovering," the statement said.
South African-born Logan had been back in the country for a matter of days.
She and two CBS colleagues, as well as their Egyptian driver, were detained by the Egyptian miltary on February 2.
Logan was not hurt during the two-day detention but she told The Charlie Rose Show their driver was "extremely badly beaten" and was not released when she and her colleagues were.
The group was flown home to the United States on February 4, according to a CBS News internal memo obtained by television industry site TVNewser.
Logan travelled back to New York and told The Charlie Rose Show on February 7 that she wanted to go back to Egypt.
"You try to be smart about these things. Yes, I would go back, it would depend entirely on the circumstances," she said.
"If I could get an interview with Hosni Mubarak I would go back tomorrow to do that interview.
"Am I just going to go back and throw myself into the same circumstances? That doesn't seem smart."
Logan said it was difficult to stay away from the story.
"I feel in one sense like a failure, professionally, I feel like I failed, because I didn't deliver and I take that responsibility very seriously," she said.
"But fundamentally it's in my blood, to be there and to be on the street and to be listening to people and to do the best reporting that I can.
"At the same time I'm also aware of the fact that I put my family through a very difficult situation."
She returned to Egypt in the middle of last week, New York Daily News reported reported.
Before her detention on February 2, Logan filed a video piece on a dramatic shift she observed in the Egyptian military's stance towards the media.
"It was literally like flipping a switch, the army just shifted dramatically to a much more aggressive posture," she said.
"When our crew went out to film beauty shots early this morning, with no idea that the situation was now different, they were confronted by soldiers and plain clothes agents, they were armed, [the crew] were intimidated and bullied and in fact marched at gunpoint through the streets all the way back to our hotel.
"[It was] a very frightening experience and one that was repeated throughout the day for us because everywhere we went we were approached by people.
"We were accused of being more than journalists, very frightening suggestions were being made. Suggestions that really could be very dangerous for us."
Logan said they were essentially "trapped" in their hotel.
"We can go out without cameras but even then we're being watched everywhere we go and being confronted, people don't hesitate to come up and start questioning you and we're definitely being prevented from telling the story," she said.
Logan has covered the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, becoming one of the US media's most recognisable war correspondents.
She became CBS News chief foreign correspondent in 2006.
Logan has a two-year-old son, Joseph Washington, with her defence contractor-husband Joseph Burkett. The couple met in Iraq.
Georgina Robinson and AFP
