Two sisters from Saudi Arabia, who fled the kingdom and have been hiding out in Hong Kong for nearly six months, said they did so to escape beatings at the hands of their brothers and father.
The pair arrived in the Chinese territory from Sri Lanka in September. They say they were prevented from boarding a connecting flight to Australia and were intercepted at the airport by diplomats from Saudi Arabia. Asked about the case, Hong Kong police said they had received a report from “two expatriate women” in September and were investigating, but did not elaborate.
The sisters, aged 18 and 20, managed to leave Hong Kong airport but consular officials have since revoked their passports, leaving them stranded in the city for nearly six months, their lawyer, Michael Vidler, said.
The women described what they said was a repressive and unhappy life at their home in Riyadh. They said they had adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan. “They were like my jailer, like my prison officer. I was like a prisoner,” said the younger sister, Ms. Rawan, referring to two brothers aged 24 and 25 as well as her father. “It was basically modern day slavery. You can’t go out of the house unless someone is with us. Sometimes we will stay for months without even seeing the sun,” the elder sister, Ms. Reem, said.
The two decided to escape while on a family holiday in Sri Lanka in September. The timing of their escape was carefully planned to coincide with Rawan’s 18th birthday so she could apply for a visitor’s visa to Australia without her parents’ approval.
But what was supposed to be a two-hour stopover in Hong Kong has turned into nearly six months and the sisters are now living in fear that they will be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia.
The pair say they have changed locations 13 times in Hong Kong.
