“I felt free and it was like I was born again.” Saudi teenager, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, in her first interview with ABC News (Australia), after having fled from her family in Saudi Arabia citing “oppression”.
The 18-year-old planned her escape from her Saudi Arabian family in the midst of a family trip in Kuwait. She managed to board a flight to Bangkok, where upon reaching, she barricaded herself in in a hotel room and then pledged for help on Twitter from first-world-nations, the UN and activists to help her avoid being deported back to Saudi Arabia.
“I was expecting them to enter the room and kidnap me...That's why I wrote a goodbye letter. I decided that I would end my life, before I was forced back to Saudi Arabia,” she told the channel.
Wanted to be Free From Oppression
As she had mentioned in her posts as well, Rahaf, who has now dropped her last name ‘Alqunun’, and is calling herself Rahaf Mohammed now, said that she needed to flee from Saudi Arabia, to be free from the relentless oppression that she, and all other Saudi women, were subjected to on a daily basis.
“I wanted to be free from oppression and depression. I wanted to be independent. I wouldn’t have been able to marry the person I wanted. I couldn’t get a job without permission.”Rahaf Mohammed to ABC News
Women in Saudi Arabia Are Treated Like Children
“The Saudi administration outlines a woman's life; what job she can hold, what work she can do. Women can't even travel on their own,” Rahat told the channel.
Adding to this, she said that women in Saudi Arabia were treated like children, regardless of what age they actually were and that they would never be treated as equal to the men in the country.
“They treat women terribly. They aren’t free or equal to their male counterparts.”Rahaf Mohammed to ABC News
More Women Will Start Fleeing Saudi Arabia
If the situation in Saudi Arabia, concerning the abuse and subjugation of its women doesn’t change soon, then more and more women will start fleeing the country, Rahat said, in response to a question on the same.
“I think the number of women fleeing from the Saudi administration and abuse will increase, especially since there’s a system to stop them.”Rahaf Mohammed to ABC News
Speaking about the mental and physical toll that her desperate attempt to flee Saudi Arabia cost her and about how all of it was worth it when she learned that Canada would be her new home, where she could be safe and independent, Rahat said:
“I hope my story encourages other women to be brave and free. I hope my story prompts a change to the law, especially as it has been exposed to the world.”
(With inputs from ABC News)
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