A former child bride who was beaten and raped by her husband in Saudi Arabia thought she was finally safe in Australia, until a gang of men arrived in a Mercedes and dragged her back to the airport.
Lolita was forced to marry when she was 11, had her first child at 13, and lived a life of abuse and sexual servitude until she finally managed to escape to Melbourne in about 2020.
She made a friend, Ali – a Sudanese truck driver who grew up in Saudi Arabia – who put her in touch with lawyer Alison Battisson to help her lodge a protection visa application in June 2022.
Her case was based on the fact that she fled extreme violence at home under Saudi guardianship laws, which essentially state that women are the property of their father, husband, or closest male relative.
The department rejected the claim in December, so she applied to have her case reviewed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
In August, Ms Battisson was shocked when she got an email back from the AAT saying it was not able to review Lolita’s case because she was no longer in the country.
After months trying to track her down, Ms Battisson finally found out a group of men had arrived at Lolita’s house last May and told her to pack a bag because they were taking her back to Saudi Arabia.
The case is eerily similar to young Saudi sisters Asra and Amaal Alsehli who were found dead in their unit in Canterbury, in Sydney’s south-west, in 2022. They had also fled to Australia, and spent their final months terrified they were being followed.
Lolita was forced to marry when she was 11, had her first child at 13, and lived a life of abuse and sexual servitude until she finally managed to escape to Melbourne in about 2020
Officials ruled their deaths were the result of a suicide pact, but Ms Battisson told Daily Mail Australia that people in the Saudi community believe they were murdered.
Ali told The Australian Lolita called him once the men arrived at her house on May 23, 2023.
‘They want to force me. They want to take me to the airport. They told me to pack my bags. Please help! I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back,’ she screamed.
He raced to her house and saw a black Mercedes outside. He told the publication the men threatened him and had information about him that only the Saudi embassy in Canberra would know.
Ali went to the airport in the hope he would be able to intercept them and cause a scene to get security involved, but there was no sign of her. No one in Australia has seen Lolita since.
Flight records indicate someone called Hanan Safeeraldeen left the country four days later, on May 27, but airport security footage from that time has since been destroyed and there are no records of who bought the ticket, or who she was sitting next to.
Hanan is the name of Lolita’s half-sister, who died in a car accident when she was a child. Lolita was forced to take on Hanan’s identity because her dead sister was documented in Saudi Arabia, whereas Lolita’s wasn’t.
Pictured: Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23. Her body was found on June 7, 2022, in her Canterbury apartment
Pictured: Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24. She and her sister were found dead in Sydney’s south-west
Her passport has Hanan’s name and says she is 41.
Records from Ummul Al Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, state Hanan Safeeraldeen graduated with a bachelors degree in social services.
She now prefers to go by her birthname, Lolita. She told Ali that she is 32 and has three children. Her oldest is a 19-year-old son.
Lolita was bright and bubbly, she was supporting herself with a catering job, and her favourite thing about Australia was that she was responsible for herself and could make decisions about her own life – in a way she never could in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Battisson told Daily Mail Australia she had assumed Lolita was dead after the kidnapping, but has since received confirmation that she is alive and has been pushing the Australian government to issue a humanitarian visa.
She believes Lolita has either been locked in a prison cell for defying the guardianship laws, or she has been released back into the custody of her husband.
‘One of the reasons I’m concerned and pushing the Australian government for a visa is because every day she’s in a Saudi prison is another day where she risks extraordinary abuse or death,’ Ms Battisson said.
‘I think there is actually a time imperative for a decision on her visa to give her some consular assistance.’
She said the visa would give a legitimate reason for either herself, or someone from the Australian consulate or the Department of Foreign Affairs, to communicate with her and provide assistance.
Alison Battisson (pictured) has been trying to get a visa for Lolita so she can be brought back to Australia
‘It would be hard to find her, but I have this concern she’s been returned to her husband against her will and has a sense that she’s been forgotten about, or left to rot inside some prison because she dared to try and live in a safe country,’ Ms Battisson said.
‘I think we can do better than that in Australia.’
Ms Battisson has tried to lobby the government over foreign interference – at the very least, she would like women who flee violent situation and seek asylum in Australia to go onto a watch list.
When she reported foreign interference to various government bodies, she said no one seemed surprised.
‘There have been instances in Australia and other countries of Saudi Arabian women being targeted for return and killed, and what really gets me is that it’s preventable,’ she said.
‘If her name had been placed on an airport watchlist for Saudi Arabian women in danger, there’s a possibility that this can be stopped.’
The Attorney-General’s office, which oversees the Australian Federal Police, told Daily Mail Australia it could not comment on this case.
Home Affairs, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Canberra has also been contacted.
Do you know more? Email charlotte.karp@mailonline.com
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