Washington - CBS correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob while covering the jubilation in Cairo's Tahrir Square on the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, the United States broadcasting network said on Tuesday.
Logan, a 39-year-old South Africa native and longtime war correspondent, has since flown back to the United States and is recovering in hospital. She was one of dozens of journalists attacked during the three weeks of protests throughout Egypt.
CBS News said in a statement Logan was covering the celebrations for CBS's 60 Minutes programme on February 11 when she and her team were surrounded by “a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy”.
“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,” CBS said.
Logan made her name as a war correspondent for Britain's GMTV during the start of the US-led Afghanistan war in 2001 and subsequently reported on the war in Iraq and its violent aftermath. She joined CBS News in 2002.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media watchdog group, said at least 52 journalists were attacked and 76 were imprisoned during the unrest in Egypt that led Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power. All have been released since, the CPJ said. - Reuters