Video exposes risks Saudi runaways face
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Saudi woman’s plea for help after she was stopped in an airport in the Philippines en route to Australia where she planned to seek asylum has drawn attention to the plight of female runaways.
For runaway Saudiwomen, fleeing can be amatter of life and death, and they are almost always doing so to escape male relatives.
Under Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islamic law, amale guardianship system bars women from traveling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or even leaving prison without the consent of a male relative.
Most Muslim-majority countries do not have similarly restrictive guardianship laws.
The mystery around what triggered Dina Ali Lasloom’s cry for help has only added to concerns for her safety.
In a video that appears to be shot with a mobile phone, the 24-year-old woman said her passport was taken from her at Manila’s international airport in the Philippines on her way to Australia.
She alleges that Philippine airport officials confiscated her passport at the request of Saudi diplomats until her relatives arrive to take her to Arabia.
“If my family come, they will kill me. If I go back to Saudi Arabia, Iwill be dead. Please help me,” she pleads Monday in the video. Lasloom said she is recording the video at the airport so the public knows “that I’m real and here.”
The woman does not show her face in the video. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their face with a veil knownas a niqab. Many do so believing it is a religious obligation, in addition to covering their hair and body. Some also cover their faces due to social pressure.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the video’s authenticity.
Women’s rights advocates in Saudi Arabia say Lasloom was ultimately forced to board a plane to the kingdom with two of her uncles, who flew from Riyadh. They said authorities then took her to a women’s shelter because of the attention around her case.
She cannot leave, however, without a male guardian’s permission. Activists say only officials and relatives can contact her there.
Although there are no official statistics, anecdotal evidence from cases reported in Saudi media and from human rights advocates suggest dozens of Saudi women have attempted to flee abroad in recent years. These publicized cases have brought increased attention to what activists say has become a “trend.”
This is despite gains made in recent years for Saudiwomen, including the right to run in, and vote in, local elections in 2015, and a government effort to increase women’s participation in theworkforce.
Women who have managed to flee abroad say they were barred from marrying or forced into marriages. Others have told rights groups that male relatives were abusive and confiscated their salaries.
“Many of them, they just want to be free,” saidMoudi Aljohani, who says she spoke with Lasloom when she was at the Manila airport.
Aljohani fled the kingdom last year and is seeking asylum in theUnited States.
Aljohani, 26, says her family felt she’d become “too Americanized” after a year of study in Miami. What was supposed to be a weeklong visit home turned into months of confinement, she says.
“The eight months of being locked in Saudi Arabia has created an angry, rebellious person inside of me that I don’t want to be silent anymore,” she said.
For the past 15 years, four of the late King Abdullah’s daughters — Princesses Jawaher, Sahar, Hala and Maha, all in their 40s — have allegedly been held in a royal compound in Saudi Arabia. Their mother, who lives in London, has spoken out in the British media to try and bring attention to their plight. Two of the princesses managed to release videos in recent years pleading for help.
Saudi courts have heard numerous cases of women asking for a transfer of their guardianship to more sympathetic male relatives — in some cases to their sons.
A Saudi women’s rights activist reached by phone in Riyadh said Lasloom was apparently trying to flee relatives in Kuwait who threatened to send her to live in Saudi Arabia.
“There have been a lot of Saudi girls who sought asylum abroad, but now it’s a trend. A lot of younger girls in their 20s are seeking asylum,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
“When they say honor killings do not exist, it’s not true. It’s just invisible,” she said, referring to the killing of daughters in the name of family honor.
Sara Leah Whitson, the Middle East director atHuman Rights Watch, says Saudi women fleeing their family can face so-called “honor” violence if returned against their will.
She called on Saudi authorities to protect Lasloom fromher family. could Saudi