Asra Abdullah Alsehli,24,and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli,23,moved from Saudi Arabia to Sydney’s south-west as teenagers in 2017. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case said they had been seeking asylum in Australia.
The sisters seemed to become increasingly fearful of their safety in the months before their death. “Were they paranoid? Yes,” said an employee of the building management company who had contact with them. “Were they scared? Yes. Why? We don’t know.”
The Canterbury apartment where sisters Asra and Amaal Alsehli were found dead.Supplied
Authorities still do not know how they died. There were no signs of forced entry. Officers have seized CCTV footage from the apartment complex. While police know almost as little about the women’s lives as they do about their deaths,a scant picture is beginning to emerge.
The girls originally settled in the Fairfield area,enrolled in a local TAFE,set up Australian Business Numbers and worked as traffic controllers,a common job for backpackers and new migrants. They drove a BMW and paid around $500 a week in rent.
In 2018,the elder sister applied for an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order,but it was later withdrawn. The young man involved was not Saudi and has had no recent contact with the sisters.
They moved to Canterbury around 2020,where they kept to themselves. Their unit was simple and sparsely furnished,eyewitnesses said. In recent months,the women appeared to have become fearful for their safety.
They told building managers that they saw someone suspicious lurking “between the two cars”. However,there was nothing to suggest he was “suspicious”,the employee said.
They raised concerns about interference with their food deliveries,although closed-circuit television showed their fears were unfounded. A person who worked in the block said the sisters.
Their reluctance to speak to authorities or even open their front door concerned workers and managers in their building enough to call police officers to perform a welfare check in March. They said,“no we’re alright,” and that they did not need help,one witness said.
However,they “looked pretty timid and upset,scared for whatever reason,” the witness said.
The sisters’ decomposing bodies were found in separate bedrooms in their small flat when the sheriff attended to query their failure to pay rent in early June. Their bodies lay undiscovered for a month in a block of 200 apartments beside one of the busiest roads in south-west Sydney.
Reports in Middle Eastern news outlets,which were widely re-reported in Australia at the weekend,said that the sisters were known as Reem and Rawan and fled to Hong Kong while on a family holiday with $5000.
However,the reports appear to have conflated the Alsehlis’ escape with a separate case.
Another set of sisters who used the names Reem and Rawan were in 2018 at the request of Saudi authorities after renouncing Islam and fleeing their family while on holiday with $5000 they had secretly saved.
Contacts of those sisters confirmed to theHerald that they were alive and well in an undisclosed country.
Like many women who leave Saudi Arabia,Reem and Rawan fled because of abuse by their male relatives. Police said they were in contact with the Alsehli sisters’ family,and there was “nothing to suggest” the women’s relatives were suspects.
A police source did confirm that the women’s family did not want to publicly issue photographs,but the coroner ordered their release to encourage members of the community to come forward with information that might help the investigation.
Another person with knowledge of the case,speaking on the condition of anonymity,said the sisters had travelled to Australia through Jordan and Dubai. Police have been tight-lipped about their movements and visa status.
The case has echoes of one in New York,in which the bodies of two Saudi sisters - who were seeking asylum - were found next to the Hudson River,bound together with duct tape by the wrists and ankles. There were no signs of trauma.
Their,The New York Times reported.
The coroner will decide whether to hold an inquest once they have reviewed the police evidence and the autopsy results.
with Maher Mughrabi
For support contact Lifeline on 131114;1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)