Rape Used as A Weapon of War by Gaddafi's Troops

In the most notorious example, 28-year-old Iman al-Obeidi claimed she was assaulted for two days by 15 men after being abducted at a checkpoint. She was arrested after trying to tell her story to foreign journalists and has subsequently been charged with slander.

Doctors in Misrata have also treated patients who have been sexually assaulted. But in a conservative society where rape is heavily stigmatised, many women will not tell even their close family what has happened to them.

Rebel spokesman Abdelbaset Abumzirig, who is based in Misrata, said that there has been a string of horrific assaults in Benghazi Street - parrallel to Tripoli Street where a maor battle for the city was fought.

'The Gaddafi forces took control of Benghazi Street before we managed to push them out,' he told Al Jazeera.

'They have been ordered to rape because this means they are insulting Misrata itself.'

He said that some families had spoken to human rights organisations about the assaults

'Some have spoken, some others, you know the old traditions, they didn't speak, but it's not a shame,' he added.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Dr Khalifa al-Sharkassi described how two sisters, aged 16 and 20, had been assaulted by African mercenaries after their brothers had joined the rebels.

The girls' mother was locked in another room while they were raped.

'Four or five Africans took turns raping both girls,' he said. '(Now) one of them just sits and cries and looks lost.'

He said another victim had tried to clean herself with bleach after being attacked. One of his patients had given herself an injection of chlorine in the belief that this would stop herself becoming pregnant.