World news This article is more than 25 years oldMiss World speaks out on rape claim
This article is more than 25 years oldMiss World, 18-year-old Linor Abargil from Israel, said yesterday that she had been raped two months before winning the title and said she had publicly confirmed rumours about an attack to encourage other rape victims to speak out. Ms Abargil, who won the beauty pageant in the Seychelles in December, alleges that she was assaulted at knifepoint on October 6.
The details were only released yesterday when a gagging order was lifted after the arrest of a suspect, Uri Shlomo - who also uses the first name Nur - who was detained at Ben-Gurion airport on Saturday as he tried to enter Israel. The charge was denied by Mr Shlomo, an Egyptian convert to Judaism whose wife and three children live in Israel.
In a statement, Ms Abargil said that she had been auditioning for modelling jobs in Milan and asked Mr Shlomo, a travel agent in the city, to arrange her flight back to Israel.
She alleges that he told her there were no flights from Milan to Israel and she would have to travel from Rome. He then offered to drive her to the capital because all the trains were booked.
She claimed that during the journey, Mr Shlomo stopped the car, pulled out a knife and raped her on the back seat. "Nur stopped the car in a place which I do not know and sat next to me in the back seat," she said in a statement issued by her lawyer, David Liba'i.
"He produced a knife with which he threatened me and raped me. Afterwards, he tied me up and then gagged my mouth with an adhesive tape and tried to choke me with a rope and a plastic bag.
"I struggled with him with all my strength and finally, when he did not succeed in choking me, he released me and asked me not to contact police."
Ms Abargil said she had promised to keep quiet to get away but filed a complaint with Italian police in Rome and later notified the Israeli authorities, who issued an arrest warrant and began extradition proceedings.
Mr Liba'i said his client had asked for a gagging order in Israel sothat the suspect would not know that the Israeli authorities were seeking his arrest.
Mr Shlomo's lawyer, Inbal Rubinstein, said he had told her that he and Ms Abargil had consensual sex in his apartment in Milan.
A judge has turned down Mr Shlomo's application to be released while investigations continue. He has not been formally charged.
Ms Abargil said she had asked for the gagging order be lifted so she could serve as an example to others.
"Women who are assaulted must react to the crimes committed against them, even at the price of some public exposure, so that these incidents do not become an accepted, routine part of our lives," her statement said.
She dismissed rumours that those involved in the Miss World pageant had been aware of the assault and granted her the title out of pity. "I won the Miss World title in my own right, and not as a result of charity," she said.
Israeli women's groups hailed her decision to go public, saying it might encourage other victims to do the same. "Women should not be silent, they should speak," said Haya Jamshy, director general of the Israel Women's Network.
Explore more on these topicsShareReuse this contentncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5BycHJnmpa7cH2UaJuarpmZwKmt0aumnKM%3D