Lara Logan of CBS Opens Up on Sex Assault in Egypt

Lara Logan image courtesy Lara Logan Facebook

Logan calls attack "merciless."

CBS's Lara Logan is one of the gutsiest journalists in television news, but back in February we reported that the wife and mother had been brutally sexually assaulted while covering the conflict in Egypt. Now, for the first time, Logan is opening up to recount the beating and assault she experienced, which she estimates involved 200 to 300 men -- unbelievable. We have her (incredibly brave) words.

The "New York Times" reports how Lara Logan remembers the mood turning dark in Cairo, Egypt's Tahrir Square on February 11. Logan has shared some of the harrowing details, and will reveal more on this Sunday's episode of "60 Minutes". From the "Times":

[Lara Logan] was ripped away from her producer and bodyguard by a group of men who tore at her clothes and groped and beat her body. "For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands," Ms. Logan said in an interview with "The New York Times." She estimated that the attack involved 200 to 300 men.

Read: Lara Logan Returning to CBS After Assault in Egypt

Lara Logan returned to work at CBS in early April and says that while all attacks on journalists in the field are unacceptable, the sexual violence that some women face carries a particularly devastating wound: the fact that those wounds aren't visible. "You only have your word," Logan says. "The physical wounds heal. You don't carry around the evidence the way you would if you had lost your leg or your arm in Afghanistan."

Logan thanks CBS executives for teaming with her to put out a statement, which in turn helped her release some of the shame she felt from the attacks. CBS's involvement, Logan says, "didn't leave me to carry the burden alone, like my dirty little secret, something that I had to be ashamed of."

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Likewise Jeff Fager, CBS News chairman and executive producer of "60 Minutes," says the network is supportive of Lara Logan's decision to speak out about the attacks some female journalists face: "There's a code of silence about it that I think is in Lara's interest and in our interest to break," Fager says.

We praise you, Lara Logan, and send you intense wishes of healing.

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