One of the 200 young women invited to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s Rome Islam preaching events this Sunday and Monday has accepted his plea reported Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on Wednesday.

Alda Ribeiro told the Milan based newspaper that her meeting with the eccentric leader “changed her.”

"Islam used to frighten me, now it fascinates me," said the 27-year-old hostess.

Ribeiro, just like the other girls invited to the events, was recruited from Hostessweb, a Rome agency which provides women for corporate events. The girls do not perform sexual favors the roles are purely decorative.

"For me, Islam was always associated with the concept of the submission of women. The other evening there was fear among the girls that we would all end up in a harem,"

Ribeiro, originally from Portugal, is a University graduate and speaks five languages.

Ribeiro added that since the Libyan ambassador's events she has been studying Islam’s teachings by reading the Quran given to her by Gaddafi.

"I asked Gaddafi what he thought of the role of women and he replied that he had always been a supporter of women's rights. I hadn't expected that.

"That's why I decided to accept his invitation. I'm going to go to Libya. I want to understand, to see with my own eyes. Then I will decide."

Gaddafi was in Rome for the U.N. World Food Summit but focused most of his attention on the two evenings where, according to his statement, he sought women "between 18 and 35 years old, at least 1.70 meters (5 foot, 7 inches) tall, well-dressed but not in mini-skirts or low cut dresses."