CBS News' Lara Logan Was Attacked, Sexually Assaulted In Egypt

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CBS News' correspondent Lara Logan suffered "a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" last Friday in Cairo and is now in a U.S. hospital recovering, the network says.

Here's the statement CBS has posted on its website and forwarded to reporters at other news outlets:

"On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 Minutes story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was 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. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering. "There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time."

Update at 5:05 p.m. ET: NPR's David Folkenflik, reporting for our Newscast, notes that in previous days in Egypt, "dozens of other journalists were beaten or taken into custody. ... The Committee to Protect Journalists argued it was part of a last ditch effort by Mubarak supporters to censor news of the uprising."

The CPJ documented some of those attacks here, here and here.

Last Friday, the day Logan was attacked, Esquire's The Politics Blog published a post in which she talked about having been detained and interrogated overnight by Egyptian authorities the week before.

Update at 9:10 a.m., Feb. 16: "Why Have Many Comments About The Attack On Lara Logan Been Removed?"