'Now I own my life': Saudi sisters who fled family granted asylum

By Dilip -
Two Saudi sisters who say they were beaten and treated like slaves by their brothers and father have been granted asylum in an undisclosed country. The women, aged 18 and 20, ran away from their family last September while on holiday in Sri Lanka and have been stranded in Hong Kong since an abandoned attempt to reach Australia, where they hoped to secure asylum.

The sisters, who are known by the pseudonyms Reem and Rawan, have asked for the country which granted them asylum to remain confidential. “I was so happy,” the younger sister told Reuters in Hong Kong, describing how she felt when she was told she had been given asylum. “I screamed, ‘It’s real, it’s happening’ ... It was just relief and unforgettable.”

The women arrived in Hong Kong in September after planning their escape over several years and secretly hoarding around $5,000. They were blocked from continuing their journey to Australia by Saudi consular agents at Hong Kong international airport and had their passports revoked. Had they been forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia they would have been at risk of criminal charges for leaving their homes without the permission of their male guardian, for escaping the country and for renouncing Islam. “They were like my jailer, like my prison officer. I was like a prisoner,” the younger sister said of her brothers and father.

The women were critical of Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system, under which women must get permission from a male relative for activities such as working, travelling and getting married.
“Women are just like slaves,” said the older sister. “I want to settle down and to feel safe, and [to know] that I have rights and I matter in that country. Just to live normal, and discover myself … because now I own my life.”.. read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/25/now-i-own-my-life-saudi-sisters-who-fled-family-granted-asylum

see also
Walid al-Hathloul: My sister is in a Saudi jail. Her crime? Campaigning for women’s rights
Jon Sharman - Saudi Arabia prepares to prosecute women’s rights activists
In Middle East, Impunity for Human Rights Abuses reigned in 2018: Amnesty
S. B. Zaki - Arab women before and after Islam: Opening the door of pre-Islamic Arabian history
Interview with Karima Bennoune, author of ‘Your fatwa does not apply here’...
Kamel Daoud - The Sexual Misery of the Arab world...
Book Review: Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s golden age...
Dubai princess, who tried to flee UAE, believed to be dead // Indian Action Under the Scanner as UN Rapporteur Probes Fate of Dubai Princess (Beti Bachao government in action)
A remarkable interview: BBC Hardtalk - Leila Slimani
Posts on Khashoggi murder
A message and an appeal  
Peace as a punctuation mark in eternal war 
HAMNA ZUBAIR - Qandeel Baloch is dead because we hate women who don't conform / When it comes to honour killing, India is neck and neck with Pakistan


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