Saudi woman granted asylum in Canada after fleeing her homeland, she revealed in a new book how she planned her incredible escape from her oppressive parents.
In Rebel: My Escape From Saudi Arabia to Freedom Rahaf Mohammed, now 21, explains how her family controlled what she wore, whether she spoke and even how she was allowed to sit.
Even though she knew she was risking her life, as a teenager she began to rebel by experimenting with men and women.
At 18, Rahaf was tragically raped by a driver and finally began planning her escape with the help of an underground network of girls on an online chat.
After flying from Kuwait to Thailand in December 2018, she gained worldwide attention after she barricaded herself in a hotel room at Bangkok airport to avoid being sent home to her family.
Then the 18-year-old girl said that she was oppressed by her family, and took action to save her life. She was handed over to the United Nations refugee agency and resettled in Canada.
In Rebel: My Escape from Saudi Arabia to Freedom, Rahaf Mohammed, now 21, reveals in a new book how she planned her incredible escape.
Rahaf was born the fifth child of seven to a Sunni Muslim family from the Al-Shammari tribe, which once ruled the Hail region.
A family from one of the strictest and most conservative areas in Saudi Arabia leads a luxurious lifestyle.
She grew up in a nine-bedroom home with several employees while her family served as governor of al-Saulami.
From a young age, Rahaf understood that she was different from her brothers, who were allowed to play outside and wear jeans and T-shirts.
After flying from a family holiday in Kuwait to Thailand in December 2018, she gained worldwide attention after she barricaded herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok to avoid being sent home to her family (pictured).
In her memoir, she explains how her family controlled what she wore, whether she spoke, and even how she was allowed to sit.
She writes that her siblings “controlled her every move”, saying, “By the age of nine, I was told never to spread my legs and to always sit up straight with my legs crossed.”
She was also forbidden to sit outside, she could not even open her bedroom window or open the front door.
How Rahaf was horrified at being sent to Saudi Arabia’s horror houses for naughty women
In the book, Rahaf describes how she was afraid her parents would send her to a “nursing home” for rebellious women.
According to the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, there are two types of women in Dar Al Reyya: those in need of “social correction” and “reinforcing religious faith” for the “rejected”.[ing] from the straight path” and persons under 30 who are awaiting investigation or trial.
However, women call it a prison for those who dare to “disobey” the regime – by violating the dress code, inappropriate sexual orientation or refusing to marry the man of the family’s choice.
Rahaf calls them a “dumping ground” for families who claim their daughters have dishonored them.
This was stated by a prominent Saudi activist and scholar Hala Al Dosari. New Lines: “There is very little information and evidence of those who were in Dar Al Rey.
“Women can tell their stories only many years after their release, when they are in a safe place. We know there have been cases of suicide.”
She wrote: “No one should hear the voice of a girl. I was told that you can never walk in public, and if you have to work, you can only become a teacher in a girls’ school.”
The 21-year-old was controlled by her controlling brothers and mother, who warned her of severe punishments if she ever crossed the line.
She explained, “One day my mother struck a match and held the flame very close to my body. She said, “Your body will burn in life and even in the afterlife if you tarnish your honor or the honor of your family.”
At the age of 11, one of her brothers forced her to start wearing the niqab. She was forbidden to speak to vendors at the local bazaar, and her male relatives spoke for her during her doctor’s appointments.
When she became a teenager, she began to rebel, searching the Internet for images of girls who spoke freely about drinking, sex, and experimenting with men and women in private.
She and her friends began to talk about forbidden topics, speaking candidly about their hopes and dreams of getting rid of the veil, having sex and becoming free.
She came across the Twitter account of a Saudi Arabian woman who managed to escape to Canada, who gave her a secret code to access a website that could help her plan her escape.
The private chat provided Rahaf with the information he needed about what life in a foreign country could be like, as well as how to get permission to travel without the knowledge of a guardian, how to book an airline ticket and apply for a visa.
She even found out that many Saudi women lead double lives, secretly taking driving lessons and even playing football with friends.
In the fall of 2018, she enrolled at Hail University, where she had more freedom to take off her niqab and even walk the streets alone.
However, one day she hired a driver who drove her through the city, and he took her to the mountains and raped her.
Rahaf then spent three days at the Bangkok airport after he was denied entry by the Thai immigration office. She barricaded herself in a hotel room to avoid deportation and began tweeting, quickly gaining a massive following.
When she told her friend what had happened, she was immediately warned not to tell anyone.
She wrote: “Here it was right in front of me – all the evidence I need to understand the place girls are in Saudi Arabia.”
“The driver who raped me knew that he would never have to be held responsible for his crime… If anyone knew that I was damaged goods, I would have to be killed – that would be a classic case of honor killing.”
Rahaf began planning her escape, using the advice of girls she met online to start saving money in a friend’s bank account.
The Thai authorities eventually allowed her to enter Thailand, and the UN refugee agency began looking for a home for her before she was offered asylum in Canada.
When she had enough money, she applied for an Australian visa online and, after convincing her parents that they should be on holiday in Kuwait, she left the country for good.
Rahaf described the week she spent with her family in Kuwait as nervous as she desperately searched for the perfect moment to escape.
She snatched her passport from an empty car one afternoon, but stayed up all night and booked a ticket from Kuwait to Thailand.
She also booked a hotel in Bangkok for three days before leaving the hotel in a taxi.
She wrote: “I asked the driver to take me to the airport and then connected to the Internet through his phone’s hotspot.
“Through messaging apps, I wrote messages to my friends. I wasn’t scared at all. I even video chatted from a taxi and kept saying, “I did it, I did it.”
Upon her arrival in Canada, she said she wanted to be independent, travel and make her own decisions about education, career and whom to marry.
However, her journey did not end there: Rahaf spent three days at the Bangkok airport after the Thai immigration authorities denied her entry.
She barricaded herself in a hotel room to avoid deportation and began tweeting, quickly gaining a massive following.
Eventually, the Thai authorities allowed her to enter the country, and the United Nations refugee agency began looking for a home for her.
As she began her new life, Rahaf, who dropped her surname al-Kunun, posted pictures of herself enjoying things that she was forbidden to have in her homeland.
The 21-year-old now regularly shares pictures of her new life in Canada on Instagram, showing off her huge tattoo on her sleeve.
After being informed that she had been granted asylum in Canada, she said at a press conference: “The stress I had last week has evaporated.”
Ms. Mohammed also said at her press conference that she wants to work in support of women’s freedom around the world.
“Today and for years to come, I will work to support the freedom of women around the world,” she said.
Rahaf said she wants to help other women around the world experience the freedom she felt while in Canada.
“The same freedom that I experienced on the first day of my arrival in Canada.”
She added that her first priority is to learn English.
She said she wanted to be independent, travel and make her own decisions about education, career and whom to marry.
Rebel: My Saudi Escape to Freedom releases March 10.