Gadhafi Urges Italian Women To Convert To Islam
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, shown here speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last September, brought about 200 Italian women to a villa and made a 45-minute speech on Islam, a witness said.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, shown here speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last September, brought about 200 Italian women to a villa and made a 45-minute speech on Islam, a witness said.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has hosted a soiree in Rome for some 200 young Italian women, but instead of the party they expected the women were given a lecture on Islam and copies of the Quran, a news report said Monday.
At least they got paid.
A reporter for Italy's ANSA news agency went undercover with the women, who were hired for euro50 ($75) by a modeling agency for the event Sunday evening. Journalist Paola Lo Mele said the women assembled at a hotel, where some were left behind because they were not tall enough or dressed modestly enough.
Those accepted were taken to a villa, where Gadhafi lectured them on women's rights and religion, and urged them to convert to Islam.
"All the girls expected a party with a gala dinner," Lo Mele told her agency. Instead, "he made a 45-minute speech on Islam and women's role in Islam. It was a bit of an indoctrination session."
Lo Mele took pictures before and after the event, showing the women carrying Qurans they received as gifts.
Gadhafi was in Rome to attend a U.N. summit on world hunger.
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