Witnesses Come Forward Following Facebook Livestream Gang Rape

A woman who watched in horror at the gang rape broadcast live on Facebook Sunday morning has told Swedish newspaper Expressen how she was raped by one of the perpetrators in 2015.

Watching footage of the attack in Uppsala for which three men were arrested Sunday, as it unfolded on Facebook, the 21-year-old recognised one of the attackers as having raped her 15 months earlier the Swedish newspaper reported.

“I had anxiety when I saw him”, the woman recalled, adding, “When I saw what was happening, I knew exactly how the girl felt.”

The 21-year-old said she was in an apartment with the suspect and three acquaintances when the attack took place. She was taking a shower when the man she identified from the video as having raped her unlocked the bathroom door and attacked.

“I pushed him away several times and said no. I used all my strength to try to push him away, but in the end I gave up and felt it was impossible [to stop him]”, she said, describing the man’s behaviour as “sick”.

“I had bruises and scratches all over my body, the throat, and where he squeezed my breasts”, the 21-year-old said, and reported having been badly affected by the attack, following which she required “urgent psychological care”.

“I hope he is convicted, this should not happen again”, said the woman, whose own complaint regarding the man reached a dead end when police were unable to prove that what occurred was a crime.

“You have been raped”, one of the men involved in the attack broadcast Sunday morning told their victim while laughing, according to witnesses.

Viewers also reported a gun being drawn in the shocking footage, the livestream of which was only shut off after police arrived on the scene. According to Fria Tider, the attacker identified by the woman is from Iran, and has multiple criminal convictions including for assault, drug offences, and theft.

Kurdish economist Tino Sanandaji blasted the media in Sweden for hiding the foreign background of the attackers, noting on Facebook that “offenders of foreign origin account for the majority of gang rapes”.

Speaking of the attack in Uppsala, Sanandaji said the government has a responsibility to report all the facts when it comes to serious crime, and slammed its recent decision to block a request for data that would detail links between immigration and crime.