French Muslim who wrote of her gang rape dies at 31

PARIS – Samira Bellil, whose book recounting being gang-raped as a teenager in a tough Paris suburb put her in the forefront of a small movement fighting for French Muslim women’s rights died in Paris on September 9.

She was 31. The cause was stomach cancer.Ms Bellil’s memoir, ‘In Gang-Rape Hell’, published in 2002, explores her violent childhood, and is written in the street language Ms Bellil grew up speaking.It quickly became a best seller.But Ms Bellil herself was shunned for bringing charges against her aggressors after the rape.The publication gave France a rare firsthand account of the troubles faced by girls in the heavily immigrant suburbs around major French cities.It also put Ms. Bellil in the forefront of a small movement fighting to improve the plight of Muslim women and girls trapped in what she called the “cultural shackles” of the suburbs.Ms Bellil was considered the godmother of the womens’ rights group Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive).”All her life, Samira showed an unfailing readiness to fight” against machismo and violence, the organisation said in a statement.”Her strength allowed numerous girls to resist to achieve their emancipation.”Born in Algeria, Ms. Bellil grew up in Seine-St-Denis, outside Paris, a heavily immigrant region where gangs flourish.In the book and in interviews, she recounted unblinkingly the violence that permeated her life and culminated in the gang rape.Ms Bellil said the book served as a final step in her recovery from the psychological traumas of her violent childhood, family rejection and other problems.”With the book, I really was able to end 15 years of silence,” she said.The book was published a month after the death of a 17-year-old girl who was set on fire by a young man in the garbage shed of a southern Paris high-rise.That incident, like Ms Bellil’s book, bolstered the movement fighting for the rights of young girls.Ms Bellil is survived by her mother, Nadia; and two sisters, Assia and Mejda.- Nampa-APThe cause was stomach cancer.Ms Bellil’s memoir, ‘In Gang-Rape Hell’, published in 2002, explores her violent childhood, and is written in the street language Ms Bellil grew up speaking.It quickly became a best seller.But Ms Bellil herself was shunned for bringing charges against her aggressors after the rape.The publication gave France a rare firsthand account of the troubles faced by girls in the heavily immigrant suburbs around major French cities.It also put Ms. Bellil in the forefront of a small movement fighting to improve the plight of Muslim women and girls trapped in what she called the “cultural shackles” of the suburbs.Ms Bellil was considered the godmother of the womens’ rights group Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive).”All her life, Samira showed an unfailing readiness to fight” against machismo and violence, the organisation said in a statement.”Her strength allowed numerous girls to resist to achieve their emancipation.”Born in Algeria, Ms. Bellil grew up in Seine-St-Denis, outside Paris, a heavily immigrant region where gangs flourish.In the book and in interviews, she recounted unblinkingly the violence that permeated her life and culminated in the gang rape.Ms Bellil said the book served as a final step in her recovery from the psychological traumas of her violent childhood, family rejection and other problems.”With the book, I really was able to end 15 years of silence,” she said.The book was published a month after the death of a 17-year-old girl who was set on fire by a young man in the garbage shed of a southern Paris high-rise.That incident, like Ms Bellil’s book, bolstered the movement fighting for the rights of young girls.Ms Bellil is survived by her mother, Nadia; and two sisters, Assia and Mejda.- Nampa-AP

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