The Hotline report portrays the Beduin smugglers as tending to rape their captives, and states that according to the testimonies collected, it appears that the majority of the approximately 5,000 women held by smugglers in the Sinai last year were raped during their time there, many of them repeatedly. Of the 24 women interviewed for the report, 17 stated that they had been raped â an especially high number, the report says, considering that rape victims are typically very reluctant to come forward, particularly those from conservative African societies, where victims of sexual assault are often ostracized from their communities.
The experience of 19-year-old Eritrean T.L.S. illustrates the helplessness of such captives.
âWhen I arrived in Sinai, the smuggler sold me, along with a group of other people, to another smuggler named Abdullah. Abdullah demanded an additional $10,000 from me. I had no way to raise that sum of money. Abdullah raped me for five days, and two other smugglers raped me as well. I wanted to resist, but I had no strength, and the smugglers nearly strangled me during the rape.
M.N., a 35-year-old Sudanese Christian, told the Hotline the Beduin captors âwould take the women and rape them daily⦠The women cried and yelled in a way that kept me up at night, for the entire time we were there. After three months there, I asked the women, through the woman who spoke English, and learned that none of them had menstruated on time. Some didnât realize that they were pregnant.â
Rape is also used as a weapon of terror and control against men, with the report stating, âOne of the men admitted that several men in his group were raped as well, as punishment for trying to prevent the rape of the young women.â
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=208766