Rape as a Weapon in Libya
BALDWIN: It is time to take you "Globetrekking," and I want to warn you, the story you're about to see is disturbing and graphic, because it's about rape as a weapon in Libya's civil war and evidence of those assaults that rebels say is frequently found and captured on cell phones. As CNN's Sara Sidner explains from Misrata, Libya, the videos are so horrific that even the rebels are trying to erase the evidence trying to avoid humiliating these families, their victims. We should tell you we have blurred just about all of the video to make it possible for Sara to file this report. The audio alone may be upsetting to some of you.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): On the frond lines of Libya's war, rebel fighters say they are finding a lot more than weapons on captured or killed pro-Gadhafi soldiers.</s>SIDNER: they say they have confiscated cell phones that contain videos showing Gadhafi loyalists torturing and raping Libyan citizens. (on camera): After weeks of hearing about these cell phone rape videos, we for the first time have a copy of one. This was given to us by a source who does not want to be identified for fear of being punished by this very conservative society. To be clear, we have been unable to verify its authenticity. We don't know where it was taken or when or by whom. All we can do is watch and listen to it.</s>SIDNER: In this video provided to CNN, fropm what rebels was say was a cell phone from a Gadhafi, two men in civilian clothes stand over a naked woman who was bent over with the face on her floor. The man standing behind her is sodomizing her with what appears to be a broomstick. "I can't bear it, I can't bear it," she says. A male voice off camera says, "Let's push it farther." "No, no, that's enough," the woman begs. One of the man puts his sock-covered foot on her face. In this culture, it's considered the ultimate insult. But in this case, it pales in comparison to what the victim is already enduring. (on camera): We blurred this video, because it's extremely difficult to watch. Arabic speakers who have examined the video say the voices in the video are distinctly Libyan with clear Tripoli accents. There's no date on the video, and the men in the video not wearing military uniforms. The victim's face is barely seen, so we have not been able to identify her. It's been extremely difficult to get anyone to talk about this video on camera because of the cultural sensitivities here. (voice-over): We asked Abdallah Al-Kabeir, a spokesman for the opposition in Misrata whether rebels have found many of these kinds of videos, his answer -- yes.</s>ABDALLAH AL-KABEIR, SPOKESMAN, MISRATA MEDIA COMMITTEE (through translator): We were able to confirm that rape was used as a weapon of war because it was systematic.</s>SIDNER: The International Criminal Court in The Hague says the allegations are credible. It is investigating, but in a surprising admission to CNN, Spokesman Al-Kabeir tells us some of the evidence of war crimes prosecutors want may have been destroyed.</s>AL-KABEIR: There was a commander here at the eastern front in Misrata named Muhammad Al-Habus (ph), he ordered all the revolutions fighters to give them the rape videos they found on cell phones. I heard that he used destroyed every video that he got.</s>SIDNER (on camera): Why would you destroy video evidence of rape that could be used as evidence of war crimes against your enemy, against the Gadhafi regime.</s>AL-KABEIR: Because aside from being a heinous crime, rape is perceived here in our culture, damaging not only for the girl, but also the whole family.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): Rape is such a taboo, even some of the victims' families would erase potential evidence against the attackers than risks living with the shame. Sara Sidner, CNN, Misrata, Libya.</s>BALDWIN: Tough to listen to, isn't it? Now this. Usually people riot in the streets when a team wins, but not so in Canada. Look at this. An incredible scene, chaos, fire, wait until you see just how out of hand this actually got. Plus, rare video of triplets. We'll tell you where this happened, coming up next.