Libyan rape accuser arrives in Romania

(CNN) -- Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who caught the world's attention when she accused members of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces of gang-raping her, arrived Monday at a refugee facility in Romania.

Al-Obeidy had fled Libya and was awaiting resettlement as a refugee in Qatar when she was deported Thursday and sent back to Benghazi in Libya.

On Sunday, a high-level U.S. State Department source told CNN that al-Obeidy was on her way to Malta with her father, and would head to a processing center in Europe before leaving for a final destination. It may take weeks before she gets to that destination.

Another U.S. State Department source said Sunday the United States was deeply concerned about her well-being, and worked closely with officials in Europe and Libya to get her safely out of the country. The same source said the U.S. is "prepared to provide whatever help and support Eman may need."

Al-Obeidy has told CNN on repeated occasions that she wants to go to the United States.

One of the State Department sources told CNN that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "has been deeply interested in the case and has followed it throughout."

Al-Obeidy was reportedly beaten before being deported from Qatar. Najah Dawaji, a U.S.-based Libyan freedom activist, said she was with three key members of Libya's opposition Transitional National Council when they learned that al-Obeidy was forced from Doha and arrived in Benghazi on Thursday. She said al-Obeidy had a black eye, bruises on her legs and scratches on her arms.

Al-Obeidy told a journalist that officials in the Transitional National Council had pressured the Qataris to expel her.

After arriving in Qatar, al-Obeidy had made public statements saying the Transitional National Council was using her. The council denied that.

Council members were upset upon seeing al-Obeidy's condition and vowed to open an investigation, Dawaji said.

The United States said it was "disappointed" by al-Obeidy's expulsion, which it said was "a breach of humanitarian norms."

Amnesty International called the deportation "outrageous," saying the action by the Qatari government "is a serious breach by Qatar of its international obligations."

CNN's Khalil Abdallah and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.

CNN

IMF accuser to testify before grand jury

New York (CNN) -- The head of the International Monetary Fund could be released on bail as early as Thursday pending a deal defense attorneys plan to submit on behalf of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, according to a court spokesman.

Strauss-Kahn, who is accused of sexual assault and the attempted rape of a 32-year-old Guinean-born maid, currently sits in a New York jail cell after being initially denied bail by a Manhattan Criminal Court judge.

His attorneys plan to appear in New York State Supreme Court on Thursday, to present a deal that could secure Strauss-Kahn's release, according to court administration spokesman David Bookstaver.

Prosecutors have warned that the powerful IMF chief is a potential flight risk.

Meanwhile, the alleged victim is set to testify before a grand jury in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to her attorney and a source with knowledge of the case.

"I want her to feel safe," said her attorney, Jeffrey Shapiro. "To the extent that his freedom would impair her feeling of safety, that would deeply concern me."

The woman, a widow with one child who lives in the Bronx borough of New York, is expected to refute the notion that the incident was consensual, Shapiro said.

Prosecutors allege that a naked Strauss-Kahn, 62, chased the housekeeping employee through his posh Manhattan hotel suite on Saturday and sexually assaulted her.

But Strauss-Kahn's defense attorneys say the incident was consensual. "The forensic evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible account, and we believe there is a very, very defensible case," attorney Benjamin Brafman said during Strauss-Kahn's arraignment Monday.

The IMF chief faces an array of charges, including two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, one count of first-degree attempted rape, one count of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of second-degree unlawful imprisonment, one count of forcible touching and one count of third-degree sexual abuse.

"He grabbed the victim's chest without consent, attempted to remove her pantyhose" and forcibly grabbed her between her legs, the complaint against Strauss-Kahn says. He also forced her to perform oral sex on him, Assistant District Attorney John McConnell said at the arraignment. The woman also was forced to have anal sex, according to the charging document.

Afterward, the employee alerted hotel staff, New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

By the time police arrived at the Sofitel hotel on Saturday, Strauss-Kahn had left in the hotel limousine, according to a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The IMF chief was captured on security video leaving the hotel and "appears to be in a rush," according to the source,

Defense attorneys dispute the reasons that Strauss-Kahn left the hotel quickly.

He apparently had a lunch appointment with his daughter and had booked his flight to Paris far in advance, according to a source with knowledge of the case.

It is not clear whether the maid was also seen on the video.

The law enforcement source said Strauss-Kahn was examined for scratches and DNA samples were taken, and investigators searched for other evidence in the suite, including possible bodily fluids from both individuals. Strauss-Kahn consented to the testing after investigators were prepared to execute a search warrant, the source said.

Forensic test results could be ready as soon as Strauss-Kahn's next court appearance, scheduled for Friday.

As one of the most powerful men in global economics, Strauss-Kahn was supposed to give the keynote speech at the Brussels Economic Forum in Belgium on Wednesday.

Instead, he sits in a New York jail cell.

Three weeks ago -- well before his visit to the New York Sofitel -- Strauss-Kahn, who had been considered a leading contender for the French presidential elections next year, discussed the possibility of a woman falsely claiming he attacked her.

In an interview April 28 with the French daily newspaper Liberation, he imagined "a woman who would be raped in a parking lot and who would then be promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent such a story," the paper reported in an article published Monday, two days after the alleged attempted rape.

Speaking to the paper about suggestions he could become France's Socialist Party candidate for president, Strauss-Kahn discussed "the long -- too long from his point of view -- campaign to come and the difficulties he will have to overcome," the paper reported.

"He sees three in the following order: 'Money, women and my Jewishness.' " He added, "Yes, I love women ... so what? For years they have been talking about photos of massive orgies, but I have not seen anything. ... Why don't they show them!"

At New York's Rikers Island jail complex, Strauss-Kahn was placed on suicide watch, a common procedure in high-profile cases, two sources with direct knowledge of the case told CNN.

Analysts suggest his career and political future are now in jeopardy.

"I do not see how he can perform his duties as director of the IMF. So by definition, this issue should be resolved in the coming days," Jean-Francois Cope, secretary-general of France's ruling UMP party, told reporters Wednesday.

The comments came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Strauss-Kahn is "obviously not in a position to run the IMF," and Austria's finance minister Maria Fekter said "he should think about whether he is damaging the institution," and consider stepping down.

A former French finance minister, national legislator and economics professor in Paris, Strauss-Kahn became the IMF's 10th managing director in November 2007.

While the top job at the World Bank is customarily held by an American, the IMF chief is traditionally European.

But as pressure mounts over Strauss-Kahn's possible resignation, there appears growing sentiment among developing nations to buck the trend.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said that succession should be based "on merit" and the position "should be considered (among) candidates from emerging countries," Portugal's official news agency reported Wednesday.

South Africa's finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, said a new IMF chief should come from a developing nation,

"We need to have an inclusive system," said Colin Bradford, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former chief economist at the U.S. Agency for International Development

"The West needs to include the emerging markets and encourage merit based leadership," he said. "We need an inclusive system, otherwise we're not going to have a structure that can manage the planet and implement a fair and legitimate system of global guidance."

Bradford suggested the scandal is an opportunity to change the unofficial policy, but others like German government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said the institution's leadership should remain European.

In Strauss-Kahn's absence, First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky has been named acting managing director, "and the fund continues its normal work," according to IMF spokesman William Murray.

The IMF chief was widely viewed as a front-runner to unseat French President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's elections, and the charges against him have left some French citizens thinking he is the victim of a conspiracy.

According to a poll released Wednesday by the Conseil Sondage Analyses (Council of Polling Analysis), 57% of French people think Strauss-Kahn was victimized.

Still, 54% said they think Strauss-Kahn's Socialist Party can win in the 2012 presidential race without him.

The alleged victim moved to the United States from the West African country of Guinea. She had been working at the hotel for three years, according to a statement from the managing director of Sofitel, and was considered a good employee.

"Her world has been turned upside down," her attorney, Shapiro, said. "She is very scared about her future."

Shapiro said his client is cooperating with police and prosecutors, and is willing to testify against Strauss-Kahn.

The accuser picked the IMF chief out of a lineup Sunday at a New York police station, saying he was the man who had sexually assaulted her, according to a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Diplomatic immunity, however, does not apply to the charges before him, Murray said.

CNN's Susan Candiotti, Deb Feyerick, Ivan Watson, Adam Reiss, Richard Roth, Saskya Vandoorne, Caroline Paterson, David Ariosto, Raelyn Johnson and Jim Bittermann contributed to this report.

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Duke lacrosse accuser charged with murder in boyfriend's stabbing

Crystal Mangum, 32, was charged Monday with murder, five days after her boyfriend succumbed to stabbing injuries. STORY HIGHLIGHTSCrystal Magnum faces a murder and two larceny charges, the district attorney's office saysPolice say Magnum, 32, stabbed her boyfriend at their shared apartment earlier this monthThe man, 46, died from his injuries last Wednesday at a Durham, North Carolina, hospital3 Duke athletes were charged -- then cleared -- after Magnum accused them of sexual assaultRELATED TOPICSDuke UniversityDuke University Lacrosse TeamCrystal Gail MangumNorth CarolinaRead local coverage at CNN affiliate WTVD.

(CNN) -- A North Carolina woman who stirred national headlines when she accused three Duke University student-athletes of rape is now herself accused of murder, a county law enforcement official said Monday.

Crystal Mangum, 32, was charged Monday with murder, five days after her boyfriend succumbed to stabbing-related injuries at a Durham, North Carolina, hospital, according to Candy Clark, a spokeswoman for the Durham County District Attorney's Office. She also is now facing two felony charges of larceny.

Prosecutors reassessed the charges against Mangum after the death of Reginald Daye at Duke University Hospital on Wednesday.

Reginald Daye dies last week

Police say she stabbed the 46-year-old man in the torso during an argument early on April 3 at the apartment the couple shared in Durham.

Later that day, Mangum was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, police said. She was placed in the Durham County Jail without bond, where she remained Monday.

Mangum's next court appearance on the murder charge has not been scheduled, but the district attorney's office said it will occur no earlier than May 2.

In March 2006, Mangum claimed she was sexually assaulted by three players on the Duke lacrosse team -- annually one of the best collegiate squads in the nation -- while performing as a stripper at a team party.

North Carolina's attorney general later found no credible evidence that the attacks occurred and the charges were dropped.

Anderson Cooper in 2007: What went wrong at Duke

The scandal, however, forced the cancellation of the men's lacrosse season that year and the resignation of team coach Mike Pressler. It also led to widespread criticism of then-Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who was eventually disbarred for his handling of the case.

In February 2010, Mangum found herself on the other side of the law when she was charged with attempted murder after a fight with her then-boyfriend. She also was accused of arson, identity theft and resisting arrest, among other charges.

CNN affiliate WTVD-TV reported that this arrest happened after she had set fire to a pile of the boyfriend's clothes while her children were at home.

In a June 2010 interview with the station, Mangum said her boyfriend had attacked her, and she said that her involvement in the Duke lacrosse case had influenced police handling of the case.

"I do feel that I am being unjustly treated because of preconceived notions about my character in the media," Mangum said then.

In December, a jury found Mangum guilty of child abuse in the case but could not agree on a first-degree felony arson charge, which could have resulted in a seven-year sentence, WTVD reported.

InSession's Jessica Thill contributed to this report.

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Duke lacrosse accuser arrested in boyfriend's stabbing, police said

Duke lacrosse rape accuser arrestedSTORY HIGHLIGHTSPolice charge Crystal Mangum with assault with a deadly weaponMangum is being held in Durham County Jail in North CarolinaFive years ago, Mangum claimed three Duke lacrosse players raped herAuthorities later found no evidence the attacks occurred and charges were droppedRELATED TOPICSStabbingsCriminal AssaultDuke University Lacrosse TeamNorth CarolinaRead local coverage of this story at CNN affiliate WTVD-TV.

(CNN) -- The woman who accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape five years ago was arrested Sunday, suspected of stabbing her boyfriend, police said.

Officers responding to a call early Sunday about a stabbing at an apartment in Durham, North Carolina, found a 46-year-old man who had been stabbed in the torso, police said. He was taken to Duke University Hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

Officers later arrested the man's girlfriend, Crystal Mangum, 32, at a nearby apartment. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, police said.

Mangum was placed in the Durham County Jail without bond.

Officers said the stabbing occurred during an argument at the couple's shared apartment.

In March 2006, Mangum claimed to have been sexually assaulted by three players on the Duke lacrosse team while performing as a stripper for a team party.

North Carolina's attorney general later found no credible evidence that the attacks ever occurred and the charges were dropped.

The scandal, however, forced the cancellation of the men's lacrosse season that year and the resignation of team coach Mike Pressler. It also led to widespread criticism of Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who was later disbarred for his handling of the case.

Mangum was arrested in February 2010 on attempted murder charges after a fight with her then-boyfriend. She was also accused of arson, identity theft and resisting arrest, among other charges.

CNN affiliate WTVD-TV reported the arrest happened after she set fire to a pile of the boyfriend's clothes while her children were at home.

In a June 2010 interview with the station, Mangum said her boyfriend had attacked her, and that her involvement in the Duke lacrosse case had influenced police handling of the case.

"I do feel that I am being unjustly treated because of preconceived notions about my character in the media," Mangum said at the time.

In December, a jury found Mangum guilty of child abuse in the case but could not agree on a first-degree felony arson charge, which could have resulted in a seven-year sentence, WTVD reported.

View the Original article