Saudi sisters stopped in Hong Kong as they flee kingdom

Two young Saudi sisters in Hong Kong said on Thursday they had been intercepted by kingdom officials at the city's airport while attempting to escape to Australia, in the latest case of women fleeing the ultra-conservative country.

The pair, who have adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan, said in a statement from their lawyer they had renounced Islam and fear the death penalty if forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

The sisters aged 20 and 18, whose representatives say they suffered violent abuse, fled to Hong Kong in September from a family holiday in Sri Lanka and were planning to fly on to Australia.

But they say they were obstructed by Saudi officials and have been living in hiding in the Chinese city for nearly six months since.

“We fled our home to ensure our safety. We hope that we can be given asylum in a country which recognises women's rights and treats them as equals,” the pair said in the statement shared by prominent lawyer Michael Vidler.

According to the lawyer's statement, they were intercepted during their stopover by unknown men who took their passports and “attempted to deceive the sisters” into boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

They later learned one of the men was Saudi Arabia's consul general in Hong Kong, and that their onward flight booking had been cancelled, it added.

The Saudi consulate in Hong Kong did not respond to requests for comment.

After failing to board a second flight and fearing they were about to be “forcibly abducted”, the sisters say they left Hong Kong airport to enter the city as visitors.

They have been forced to change locations 13 times for fear of their safety, their statement said, after police reportedly tried to take them to meet with male relatives and Saudi officials.

The case has emerged a month after 18-year-old Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun drew global attention with her dramatic escape from an allegedly abusive family, gaining refugee status in Canada last month.