A personal account from one of Muammar Gaddafi’s former sex slaves
published in the New York Post today sheds even more light on the
strange and terrifying lifestyle of Libya’s former dictator. Soraya was
just 15 years old in April 2004 when she was handpicked by Gaddafi to
become one of the many sex slaves in his harem. French journalist Annick
Cojean details Soraya’s life as a sex slave in a new book titled:
‘Gaddafi’s Harem: The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in
Libya’ due out this September from Grove Press. Soraya was just 15 years
old when she met the Gaddafi on a visit to her school, and he hand-picked
her to be a sex slave in his harem. Gaddafi made a visit to her school and
she was chosen to present him with a bouquet. ‘You can’t imagine the excitement,’ she
said. ‘To see Gaddafi in person…His face had been known to me since I was
born.’ Their first exchange was innocent. Her heart raced as she handed
Gaddafi the flowers, knelt and kissed his hand. He tapped her head and
then she left. She said she felt like she was on a cloud. But that tap was
more meaningful than Soraya could possibly comprehend. That tap meant that
Gaddafi had chosen her to be his sex slave. The following day three
members of his Amazonian guard – an all-female group – arrived at her
mother’s upscale salon and said that Gaddafi wanted to see Soraya. Her
mother reluctantly agreed, knowing she didn’t have a choice. Soraya was
whisked away in a speeding SUV to a remote outpost where she was taken
into a tent to meet the dictator. He didn’t acknowledge her as he surfed
the channels on his TV, but commanded the female guards to ‘get her
ready.’ This included shaving her down, administering a blood test,
measuring her for clothes, and changing her into a G-string and white
slip. When she was ready, Soraya was escorted into Gaddafi’s bedroom where
he was waiting naked on the bed. ‘Turn around you whore!’ Gaddafi yelled at the
young girl. ‘Whore’ would be the only name Soraya was ever called by the dictator.
Then he yanked her hair and made her look into his eyes. ‘Don’t be
afraid,’ he said. ‘I am your Papa – that’s what you’ll call me, isn’t it? But I
am your brother as well, and soon I’ll be your lover. I’ll be all of that to
you. Because you’re going to stay here and be with me forever. ‘Soraya was
confused. She was told that after she met with the dictator that she could
go home. Being so young, she didn’t quite understand what the dictator
wanted with her. After that, Soraya was held captive as a sex slave until
Gaddafi’s demise. Along with his many other slaves, she lived in a
windowless basement room stuffy with...