Trigger warning: physical and sexual abuse, suicide—Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, fledSaudi Arabiain 2015 seeking asylum.
HighlightsFather threatens daughter for not returning to Saudi Arabia for marriage.Asylum granted to woman and her family in Australia after father’s threats.Alsehli sisters fled Saudi Arabia and were found dead in Sydney in 2022.Father’s history of abuse verified, allowing daughter to get protection visa.
A controlling father used the sinister overtones of the Alsehli sisters’ case to warn his own daughter, who had been granted asylum in Australia due to her father’s history ofabuse.
RELATED:
Image credits:ciprian/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
The father asked his daughter—whose identity has also remained anonymous—in a text message if the photos of the Alsehli sisters scared her, as he wrote: “It’s going to become real, I swear to God I’m going to slaughter you, bury you and no one will know, I’m coming soon and will see you.”
The woman applied for a protection visa in 2015,The Daily Mailreported on Sunday (October 13).
Image credits:Prostock-studio/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
He added: “This is your fate and it’s going to be with my own hands.”
In a separate judgment delivered in 2023, the tribunal also reportedly ruled the woman’s mother and sisters were eligible for the same visa.
A controlling father used the sinister overtones of the Alsehli sisters’ case to make death threats against his daughter
The victim was born into a privileged family in the Saudi capital city of Jeddah. Her parents separated while she was at school, but her father retained a key to the family home and came and went as he pleased, as per the British tabloid.
While awaiting asylum in Australia, she reportedly told Home Affairs that she would face a forcedmarriageto her cousin if she returned to Saudi Arabia, where she would be under the guardianship of her violent father.
The asylum seeker also risked becoming the victim of an “honor killing” at the hands of her husband, father, and other male relatives once they learned that she had been sexually assaulted,The Mailreported.
Therape survivorreportedly gave sworn testimony before the tribunal that her father had been violent and controlling toward her and her sisters all their lives.
Image credits:backiris/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
According to the woman, her father had stabbed their mother and committed her to a psychiatric institution in a campaign of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse waged over 30 years, according toThe Mail.
The tribunal subsequently accepted the woman’s testimony about her father’s behavior and her fears of persecution, ruling that she qualified for refugee status and a protection visa.
The sisters had left Saudi Arabia five years earlier with $5,000 in savings. They adopted a Western lifestyle, with Asra identifying as a self-described atheist, and Amaal identifying as a lesbian, theNew Arabreported in June 2023.
The Alsehli sisters’ deaths have not been conclusively determined since their remains were found in Sydney, Australia
Image credits:NSW Police Force
According to previous reports, the sisters had been receiving money from their family in Saudi Arabia, but the financing stopped after a falling out, leading them to fall behind on rent and prompting police welfare checks at the building manager’s request.
According to a toxicology report, unusual levels of sodium, nitrate, and fluoride were found in the apartment, with police believing the sisters died as the result of a suicide pact.
Nevertheless, sources with knowledge of the investigation reportedly believe that the sisters were aware of the dangers of returning to Saudi Arabia.
The sisters had applied for subclass 866 protection visas—an Australian visa that allows individuals to live in Australia permanently if they are found to be refugees—in 2022.
Image credits:7News Australia
Their bodies have since been returned to Saudi Arabia, with a coroner now being tasked with determining an official cause of death, theNew Arabreported.
The Eastern Kingdom introduced its Personal Status Law (PSL) on March 8, 2022. The PSL is a legal framework that governs family matters, including marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance.
Although the law introduced some reforms, such as setting a minimum marriage age of 18, it continues to enforce Saudi men’s guardianship system, which requires Saudi women to obtain permission from a male guardian for critical decisions like marriage and validation of marriage contracts.
On March 8, 2023, marking International Women’s Day,Amnesty Internationalcriticized the PSL for failing to protect Saudi women from domestic violence.
Amnesty International previously criticized Saudi Arabia for failing to protect Saudi women
View this post on Instagram
It also makes women’s financial support from their husbands during marriage conditional on wives “submit[ing]” themselves to their husbands.
Such provisions place women at risk of exploitation and abuse, including marital rape, which Saudi law does not criminalize, as per Amnesty.
According to the PSL, only men have the unconditional right to initiate a divorce. The law merely stipulates that a woman should be “informed” of the divorce and entitled to financial compensation if she has not been informed.
“Every woman should have the choice to go where she feels safe and secure,” a reader commented
Thanks! Check out the results:Lei RV
News
