Linor Abargil - Biography

Linor Abargil (sometimes spelled Linor Aberjil; born February 17, 1980) is an Israeli beauty pageant contestant who won the Miss World beauty pageant in 1998, shortly after being raped. Since then, she has become a global advocate in the fight against sexual violence.

Biography

Just seven weeks before being crowned Miss World, the then 18-year old Abargil was raped at knifepoint by Uri Shlomo, an Israeli citizen working as a travel agent in Milan, Italy. She made her case public and Shlomo was arrested in Israel, charged with and found guilty of rape. Abargil called for other women to follow her example.

Abargil married Lithuanian basketball player Šarūnas Jasikevičius in a ceremony near Barcelona, Spain, in July, 2006. They divorced in 2008. In 2008 she announced plans to make a documentary movie about her rape with Oscar-nominated producer Cecilia Peck, daughter of actor Gregory Peck.

Recognition

In 2005, she was voted the 89th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.