Wall of silence traps hundreds of women raped by Gaddafi's thugs

Now, those who survived brutal attacks by Col Gaddafi's men are beginning to get the help they need, and seeking to overcome the taboo of sexual assault.

Misrata's rebel leadership has created a medical committee to investigate rape allegations, and help what they fear could be hundreds of rape victims.

"We have two religious leaders and a female psychologist, doctor and social worker on the panel," said Dr Ismael Fortia, an obstetrician living in Misrata and committee member.

In Libya, rape carries a potent stigma that brings "shame" on the woman, or in many cases, on her entire clan. Through a series of lectures on the trauma cause by the siege, Dr Fortia and his colleagues hope to gradually grind down the taboo surrounding this subject

Dr Fortia said: "We will address the topic of rape. We want these women to know there is no blame or stigma, we see them as victims of the mad dog dictator."

Anonymous questionnaires will also be distributed to build a database of cases.

Through physiotherapy and psychotherapy sessions with groups of women, therapist Jameela Farshish has gained a disturbing insight into the rapes.

"The stories they tell are unimaginable," said Ms Farshish. "Gaddafi soldiers behaved wildly. I know of a woman who had gone completely insane after she was raped in front of her father." The stories include gang rape, extreme violence and mutilation. However, few of the accounts are first-hand. "They always say it happened to their 'neighbour' or family member. Even if it happened to them they would not say so in order to protect themselves."

A teacher from the Philippines spoke candidly about how she and her fellow workers were captured and sexually assaulted by Col Gaddafi soldiers on Tripoli Street; the centre of the battles for Misrata. She has been given the name Anna to protect her identity.

She said groups of men wearing green scarves, marks of their loyalty to Col Gaddafi, raided the property she was in. Each of her female colleagues were ordered into a room by soldiers, one of whom followed each of them.

Anna said: "He held a gun to my head and told me to kiss him. He touched me everywhere." Later Anna learned the same fate had befallen her friends. "For days we did not speak about it. I spent the night trembling, terrified someone else might enter."

Two days later another group of soldiers moved Anna, her colleagues and an Egyptian family living upstairs to their command centre on Tripoli Street.They lived in one room, waiting, hearing the constant bombardment of rocket propelled grenades and mortars around them.

Early one morning, a man entered the room in which they all slept. "It was dark. I saw the outline of the face of the man from the hall light. I could smell him, and I heard the clink of the rifle," she recalled.

Anna heard the wife of the Egyptian family mutter prayers under her breath. They grew louder and louder. Her one-year-old child began to cry and the gun rattled as the man moved. "I wondered why the mother was not comforting the baby, and then I realised that he was attacking her."

Holding the gun to the mother's head, the soldier had threatened the husband, who lay beside her, that he would shoot the child if he moved.

Because of the social stigma of rape, calculating how many women have been affected is particularly difficult. Ms Farshish believes that the cases are disturbingly common. She said: "I hear these stories every day."

Many come from the suburb of Tammina, which was occupied by Col Gaddafi forces for more than one month.

"I think up to half of the women in Tammina may have been sexually assaulted or raped," said Ms Farshish.