Smith was on her first international assignment, shooting a documentary on women's rights in Egypt as her final college project.

◼ UK journalist assaulted in Tahrir Square: 'Please make it stop' - CNN

Amid the celebrations that greeted the declaration of a winner in Egypt's first freely elected presidential vote, a British student journalist was being sexually assaulted by a mob in Tahrir Square....

Her experience echoes the assaults faced by two prominent female reporters, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan and Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy, who has said her attackers were officers at a police station. One of Smith's friends, Callum Paton, told CNN the mob dragged Smith naked across the ground before another group of men stepped in to protect her....

Arab women, Muslim women were all around me, just crying, saying 'This is not Egypt! This is not Egypt! This is not Islam! These are thugs!' " she told CNN. She said she responded, "I know, I love Egypt, I know this is not Islam, it's OK.

"And they were stunned, 'cause they thought I was going to be so full of hate and so full of fear. But from the very beginning, I don't blame Egypt for this. This is not the workings of the Egyptian people. This is not representative...."