Amina Tyler — the 19-year-old Femen activist whose topless picture elicited death threats from religious officials — has escaped from her family, according to a Skype interview to another Femen member published yesterday. Tyler describes being kidnapped from a café by her cousins, who beat her and destroyed her cell phone’s SIM card. She was later taken to a psychotherapist, subjected to a virginity test, and forced to pray against her will. She tried to run away once previously and was sedated. “I’m not regretting the pictures,” she said. Bouchra Belhaj Hamida, a prominent feminist lawyer in Tunisia who has acted as Tyler’s spokesperson, told the AP that Tyler is currently gathering the papers necessary to leave for France, but Tyler tells Femen she won’t leave Tunisia without doing a topless protest. “I will continue the struggle in Tunisia, then I will leave.”
