Women were at the heart of Libya’s revolution. Ten years on, they risk death calling for their rights

From playing a prominent role in the revolution against Gaddafi, Libyan women have been increasingly sidelined in attempts to get the country back to any form of stability, reports Bel Trew

A woman waves a national flag as Libyans mark the 10th anniversary of the 2011 revolution, in the eastern city of Benghazi (AFP via Getty Images)

It wasn’t until she saw her cousins, rights activists Salwa and Iman, leading a daring protest outside a courthouse in Benghazi that Hala Bugaighis realised something truly huge was happening.

It was February 2011. Hosni Mubarak had stepped down in neighbouring Egypt just the week before and that revolutionary fervour had spilled over the borders into Libya’s second city.

Hala Bugaighis, then a 31-year-old commercial lawyer, was more than 1,000km west in Tripoli, a stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi who had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 40 years.