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 drove up in a Mercedes and dragged her back to the airport.
Lolita was forced into marriage when she was 11, had her first child at 13, and lived a life of sexual abuse and servitude until she finally managed to escape to Melbourne in around 2020.
She befriended Ali, a Sudanese truck driver who grew up in Saudi Arabia, who put her in touch with lawyer Alison Battisson to help her apply for a protection visa 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, prompting her to request that her case be reviewed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
In August, Ms Battisson was shocked when she received an email from the AAT saying they could not review Lolita’s case because she was no longer in the country.
After months of trying to locate her, Ms Battisson finally discovered that a group of men had arrived at Lolita’s home last May and told her to pack a suitcase because they were taking her back to Saudi Arabia.
The case is eerily similar to that of young Saudi sisters Asra and Amaal Alsehli, who were found dead in their unit in Canterbury, south-west of Sydney, in 2022. They had also fled to Australia and spent their final months terrified that they were being followed.
Lolita was forced into marriage when she was 11, had her first child at 13, and lived a life of sexual abuse and servitude until she finally managed to escape to Melbourne in around 2020.
Authorities ruled their deaths were the result of a suicide pact, but Battisson told Daily Mail Australia that people in the Saudi community believe they were murdered.
Ali said 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 cried.
He ran home and saw a black Mercedes outside. He told the publication that the men threatened him and had information about him that only the Saudi embassy in Canberra would know.
Ali went to the airport hoping to intercept them and cause a fuss so security could intervene, but there was no sign of her. No one in Australia has seen Lolita since.
Flight records indicate that someone named Hanan Safeeraldeen left the country four days later, on May 27, but airport security footage from that time has been destroyed and there is no record 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 adopt Hanan’s identity because her dead sister was documented in Saudi Arabia, while Lolita’s was not.
Pictured: Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23. His body was found on 7 June 2022 in his Canterbury flat.
Pictured: Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24. She and her sister were found dead in south-west Sydney.
Her passport has the name Hanan on it and says she is 41 years old.
According to records from Ummul Al Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Hanan Safeeraldeen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social services.
She now prefers to be called by her birth name, Lolita. She told Ali that she is 32 years old and has three children. The oldest is 19.
Lolita was bright and cheerful, she made a living from a catering job and what she liked most about Australia was that she was responsible for herself and could make decisions about her own life, something she could never have done 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 lobbying the Australian government to issue a humanitarian visa.
She believes that Lolita has either been locked in a cell for defying guardianship laws or has been released into her husband’s custody.
“One of the reasons I’m concerned and pushing the Australian government to give him a visa is because every day he’s in a Saudi prison is another day he’s at risk of extraordinary abuse or death,” Battisson said.
“I think there really is an imperative time for a decision to be made on his visa and for him to be provided with some type of consular assistance.”
She said the visa would provide a legitimate reason for her or someone from the Australian consulate or Department of Foreign Affairs to contact her and provide assistance.
Alison Battisson (pictured) has been trying to obtain a visa for Lolita so she can return to Australia.
“It would be difficult to find her, but I am concerned that she has been returned to her husband against her will and feels that she has been forgotten or left to rot in some prison because she dared to try to live in a safe country,” Battisson said.
“I think we can do better than that in Australia.”
Ms Battisson has been trying to lobby the government to prevent foreign interference – at the very least, she would like to see women fleeing violence and seeking asylum in Australia put on a watch list.
When he reported foreign interference to various government agencies, he said no one seemed surprised.
“There have been cases in Australia and other countries of Saudi women being targeted for return and murder, and what really surprises me is that this could be prevented,” she said.
“If her name had been included on an airport watch list for Saudi women in danger, there would have been a chance this could have been stopped.”
The Attorney-General’s office, which oversees the Australian Federal Police, told Daily Mail Australia it could not comment on the case.
The Home Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Saudi Embassy in Canberra have also been contacted.
Want to know more? Email charlotte.karp@mailonline.com
