
Saudi Women, Tired of Restraints, Find Ways to Flee - jseliger
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-women-flee.html
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askver
I feel that this story by the BBC, presumably filed by Jonathan Head
([https://twitter.com/pakhead](https://twitter.com/pakhead)), was what spread
wide awareness of Rahaf's realtime emergency situation:

[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-46773625](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46773625)

I was reading r/worldnews and came across this on page two. It was so
strangely under-voted. I just entered the twitter URL in that screengrab and
saw a scarily fresh video of her attempts of blocking the door to her hotel
room (air-side @ BKK, "Miracle Hotel", where they had put her waiting for a
flight to Kuwait). That made it so real. I posted that link and it got
thousands of upvotes very, very quickly. I hope that spread some awareness,
somehow.

Afterwards I feel quite a bit upset that media in Sweden under-reported this
event. I'm pretty sure it's the confused feminism/Islam alliance that caused
this.

The countries whose journalists really stepped up here were: The UK and
Australia.

------
igitur
Read this wonderful, but appalling book (true story) over December:

Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia

PRINCESS describes the life of Sultana Al Sa'ud, a princess in the royal house
of Saudi Arabia. Hidden behind her black veil, she is a prisoner, jailed by
her father, her husband and her country.

Sultana tells of appalling oppressions, everyday occurrences that in any other
culture would be seen as shocking human rights violations: thirteen-year-old
girls forced to marry men five times their age, young women killed by
drowning, stoning, or isolation in the "women's room."

PRINCESS is a testimony to a woman of indomitable spirit and courage, and you
will never forget her or her Muslim sisters.

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004J17GY4/ref=tmm_kin_title_...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004J17GY4/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

Before I only vaguely knew of the struggles of women in Saudi Arabia.

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duxup
For those leaving I imagine it seems like they're leaving forever, family,
friends, everything you knew is gone. There's no way to know if you ever can
go back considering the possible consequences and you're often going to places
that aren't familiar. That's a rough choice.

~~~
dade_
True, but in a major city in Canada at that age, she will have no problem
making friends. Just has to contend with her first winter. Otherwise her
timing coudn't be better, with diplomatic relations being the disaster they
are now.

~~~
duxup
I'm not sure that Canada is for someone leaving Saudi Arabia as a positive
thing as you think. The person leaving doesn't necessarily love Canada... even
if it is the better option.

~~~
droussel
Why wouldn't they?

~~~
moltar
Lots of immigrants don’t like it. I personally know many who don’t.

Some stay and complain about “their ways” and how it’s better “back home”.
Generally it’s older people, who are now stuck. They can never go back.

Others actually go back.

I know of a whole family who moved to Canada, not once, but twice! And
eventually still went back to Eastern Europe. And this was mid-2000s, post-war
country. Kids finished university and they were gone.

I know of 3 younger people who were proper immigrants, not edu visa, had
finished their education and were offered/found good opportunities back in
their countries and moved.

One friend of mine lived in Canada almost 20 years. Went to Moscow following
his gf (she got a job as an English teacher). He loves it there and he stayed
permanently.

I know many more stories like that. Life in Canada is good. It’s safe and
peaceful. Almost complacent. Not everyone enjoys that lifestyle though.

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hi41
That is such a courageous step to take. What happens if asylum request is
denied and they are returned custody to Saudi Arabia and their family? That
scares me. I hope they know what to say when asking for asylum.

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mahart
They are used to treating women like children who never grow up. There is
always a guardian in charge of them. It is crazy to read they've set up a
website to send notifications and disable family members from travel.

They only just allowed women to vote/run for office a few years ago, and women
to drive last year. This is a great produced piece by nytimes as well:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ8WPHj6Nhw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ8WPHj6Nhw)

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Markoff
how is this hacker news material?

