5/27/2023 0 Comments Rebel rahaf![]() ![]() ![]() The Thai man, who turned out to be an agent of the Saudi embassy and who I now considered the enemy, told me to sit down on a chair near the passport control counter. The people in front of me - the man I’d foolishly presumed was being kind to me, the woman who wouldn’t look at a terrified girl - they froze as images in a horror movie while my brain slipped into slow motion and the past and present collided. I was shaking and sweating I could see my future becoming unravelled, my own life ending. My fear was like a hot white light exploding in my brain. Instead I was trapped here in the airport. I’d ask for asylum as soon as I made it to the other side of the arrivals area, and my new life would begin. My plan was so carefully prepared I’d stay a few days in Bangkok at a hotel I had already booked and then fly to Melbourne, where another Saudi runaway would meet me. ![]() How else could I explain the early-morning departure from the hotel in Kuwait while my family slept, or the ticket I’d purchased for the flight from Kuwait to Bangkok, or the valid Australian tourist visa stored in my phone? Reality crushed my happy dream of escaping the abuse of my family, the injustice of my country and a future that meant being tethered in marriage to an old man who would have absolute control of my life until I died.īeing murdered by my father and brothers for daring to run away was another truth that I knew I would face. When I realized I had walked into a trap, my sense of freedom and relief vanished. ![]()
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