CBS correspondent Lara Logan shown here the day she was attacked in Egypt. (AP / CBS News)
Daring CBS correspondent Lara Logan is hospitalized in the U.S., after suffering a “brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” by a mob during the Egyptian revolution, the network announced.
“On Friday, Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a ‘60 Minutes’ story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy, “CBS reported.
“In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.
“There will be no further comment from CBS News and correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time, “ CBS reported.
IWMF Executive Director Liza Gross said, "The outrageous attack on Lara Logan points up the dangers that women journalists around the world face as they cover the stories that must be told. This brings it home for us as Americans, but I hope we can focus on the broader issue of sexual violence as a tool to intimidate women journalists. Laura Logan is a brave professional, and our thoughts are with her as she struggles through this difficult time."
During the past 18 years, Logan’s bold reporting from war zones has won her attention around the world. Her five-segment series on U.S. Marines on patrol in Afghanistan for the "CBS Evening News" was recently named an RTDNA/Edward R. Murrow Award winner. Since February 2006, Logan has been chief foreign correspondent. That same year she became a correspondent for "60 Minutes" the same year.