TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan authorities on Sunday attacked the character and credibility of a Libyan woman who burst into a hotel full of foreign journalists to say that she had been abducted and raped by militia members working for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, calling her “a known prostitute and a thief.”

The woman, Eman al-Obeidy, has become well known in Libya and around the world since the episode at the hotel on Saturday.

She told journalists that she had been raped by 15 men and displayed large bruises on her face and legs, as well as deep scratches. But as she tried to talk, security officials and people who had previously appeared to be hotel workers raced to silence her, at one point even attempting to place a coat over her head.