Twitter removes rape video posted by Italy’s Meloni

Giorgia Meloni. Pic/AFP

Twitter removed on Tuesday a video of a Ukrainian woman being raped by a migrant in an Italian city that was posted by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who is leading the race to become Italy's next prime minister. Meloni tweeted the blurred video, which was originally published on a newspaper website, late on Sunday, saying she could not remain silent in the face of "this atrocious episode of sexual violence".

The post was widely condemned by Meloni's political rivals and human rights activists, who accused her of adding to the victim's misery by putting out the video without her consent.

On Tuesday morning the post was removed and replaced with a comment from Twitter. "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules." There was no immediate response from Meloni. Authorities in the city of Piacenza say the 55-year-old Ukrainian woman was assaulted on a pavement early Sunday by an asylum seeker from Guinea. Police have confirmed his arrest and said the man was being detained as investigation continued. The incident was recorded by someone in a flat overlooking the street.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever