RAEL’S COMMENT:
The United Nations Organization and the whole world should be ashamed of giving Saudi Arabia the presidency of the Human Rights protection of women. And how can the Philippines’ authorities stop her? Is that a Muslim country accomplice of Saudi Arabia while pretending to be Christian? Boycott tourism in the Philippines and products from this country!
A trip taken by a young Saudi woman – and her unwilling journey back to her home country – opened up a debate about Saudi laws which require females to get permission from male relatives before they travel or undertake a host of everyday tasks.
Frightened and in an unfamiliar country, Dina Ali Lasloom approached a stranger in Manila airport.
Lasloom, a 24-year-old Saudi woman, was attempting to leave her family in Kuwait and intended to seek asylum in Australia. But after being stopped in transit in the Philippines, she faced being sent back to Saudi Arabia.
‘They’re here’
The stranger she approached in the airport was Meagan Khan, a Canadian woman. In just a few hours, the two formed a close bond.
Khan says that Lasloom told her that she learned that her uncles were on their way to find her in Manila. Lasloom recorded a plea for help on Khan’s phone.
“Dina was sitting across from me eating a sandwich and I was looking at her and I saw a change in her face.
“She just completely lost every single emotion and a completely terrified look appeared in her face. She said ‘Meagan they’re here.’
“I said ‘What?’
“She said ‘Meagan! Meagan, send the video, they’re here.’ And I turned and saw two men and a woman walking towards us and I said to her ‘Are those your uncles?’
“And she said: ‘Yes.'”
She was put on a flight to Riyadh, but not before her video appeal went viral on Twitter. The hashtag “Save Dina Ali” began trending on 11 April, before she had even arrived back in Saudi Arabia.
That was the last that Khan and women’s rights activists heard from her. BBC Trending has now pieced together the timeline behind the mysterious story of Dina Ali Lasloom, the debate about Saudi Arabia’s guardianship law and what has happened to her after she was made to return.
