On Social Media, Ethiopians Continue to React to Shweyga Mullah’s Case

Tadias Magazine
News Update

Friday, October 14, 2011

New York (TADIAS) – Widespread news coverage of an Ethiopian migrant worker in Libya, Shweyga Mullah, who had cared for two of Moammar Gadhafi’s grandchildren and suffered abuse and severe burns, continue to elicit reactions from Ethiopians worldwide.

“A social media campaign for justice is raging among Ethiopians online after a CNN journalist, Dan Rivers, revealed the horrifying abuse of Shweye Mullah who was brutally injured after the wife of Gaddafi’s son Hannibal poured boiled water on her whole body for allegedly failing to keep a crying child quiet,” reports Global Voices, an international community of bloggers and translators that track blogs and citizen media.

According to the website: “On Friday, September 2, 2011 Ethiopian netizens created a virtual discussion page on Facebook on seeking justice for Sheweyga Mullah in Libya. Another group has created a petition to gather signatures of the Ethiopian online community. The group has also created a Facebook app. Another group with over 8,000 members is called “Stop the abuse of Ethiopian women in Middle East”. And “Justice for Shweyga Mullah tortured and enslaved by Aline Gaddafi Skaf” is a Facebook page while “Let us Prevent Future Shweye Mullahs” is a Facebook group with over 1000 members.”

The petition reads:

The recent inhumane treatment of Shweyga Mullah by Alaine Skaf, Gaddafi’s daughter-in-law, brought to light the unimaginable ordeal that our sisters in different countries around the world are going through. Luckily for her, despite the physical and psychological damage she sustained, this act of cruelty became a high profile case as it was first reported by CNN and linked to Gaddafi. Consequently CNN managed to organize fund raising and securing special treatment. However, countless other Shweygas are still suffering undiscovered, not to mention thousands more planning to cross the border only to possibly end up like Shweyga.

Watch: How CNN discovered Shweyga Mullah

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