Dead Saudi sisters ‘did not seek US asylum’

New York police have denied revealing any asylum information in the case of the two Saudi sisters Rotana Farea, 22, and Tala Farea, 16, whose bodies were found on the banks of the Hudson River last week.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) also told media there is no known nexus between the sisters’ death and the Saudi government.

The Associated Press had reported this week that the two sisters had applied for political asylum. The Jeddahbased Arab News contacted the NYPD to confirm AP’s story, and the officer handling the case denied releasing any information regarding an alleged asylum claim.

The bodies of Rotana and Tala washed up last week, bound together with duct tape around the waists and ankles.

Likewise the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC refuted an AP claim that the mother of the two sisters had said that she received a call from the Saudi Embassy requesting the family to leave the US because the daughters had requested asylum.

In a statement, the consulate said it had appointed a lawyer to follow the case “to avoid inaccurate reporting”. The Saudi embassy in Washington was also extending its “support and aid in this trying time” to the sisters’ family, the statement said.

A cousin of the two slain sisters told Arab News that it is “highly unlikely that their mother would have made such a statement to the police”, as she is in no condition to talk to the media.