How a Saudi Arabian child bride who fled to Australia for safety has DISAPPEARED overseas after ‘a group of men arrived at her house and escorted her onto a plane’

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 at the age of 11, had her first child at 13, and lived a life of abuse and sexual slavery until she finally managed to escape to Melbourne, circa 2020.

She met a friend, Ali, a Sudanese truck driver who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He put her in touch with lawyer Alison Battisson, who helped 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 denied the claim in December, so she filed a request to have her case reviewed by the Administrative Appeals Board.

In August, Ms Battisson was shocked to receive an email from the AAT saying they could not consider Lolita’s case because she was no longer in the country.

After months of trying to track her down, Ms Battisson finally discovered that a group of men had arrived at Lolita’s house in May last year and told her to pack her bag because they were taking her back to Saudi Arabia.

The case bears an eerie resemblance to that of young Saudi sisters Asra and Amaal Alsehli, who were found dead in their home in Canterbury, south-west Sydney, in 2022. They too had fled to Australia and spent their final months terrified as they were followed.

Officials said their deaths were the result of a suicide pact, but Ms Battisson told Daily Mail Australia that people in the Saudi community are convinced they were murdered.

Ali said The Australian Lolita called him when 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 me! I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back,” she screamed.

He ran to her house 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 scene to alert security, but there was no sign of her. No one in Australia has seen Lolita since.

Flight records show that someone named Hanan Safeeraldeen left the country four days later, on May 27. However, airport security footage from that time has been destroyed and there is no record of who bought the ticket or who she sat 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 assume Hanan’s identity because her dead sister was documented in Saudi Arabia, while Lolita’s was not.

Her passport has Hanan’s name on it and it says she is 41.

Documents from Ummul Al Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, show that Hanan Safeeraldeen holds a bachelor’s degree in social services.

She now prefers to go by her birth name, Lolita. She told Ali that she is 32 and has three children. Her oldest is a 19-year-old son.

Lolita was cheerful and energetic, she earned her money with a job in catering and what she liked most about Australia was that she was responsible for herself and could make her own decisions about her own life, something she couldn’t do in Saudi Arabia.

Ms Battisson told Daily Mail Australia she assumed Lolita was dead after the abduction but has since received confirmation she is alive. She is urging the Australian government to grant her a humanitarian visa.

She is convinced that Lolita has either been locked up in a prison cell for violating custody laws, or that she has been released and placed in the care of her husband.

“One of the reasons I am concerned and am urging the Australian government to grant her a visa is that every day she spends in a prison in Saudi Arabia is a day she is at risk of extreme abuse or even death,” Battisson said.

“I think there is actually a time pressure for a decision on her visa so that she can get consular assistance.”

She said the visa would give her, or someone from the Australian consulate or the Department of Foreign Affairs, a legitimate reason to communicate with her and assist her.

“It would be difficult to find her, but I worry that she has been returned to her husband against her will and that she feels forgotten, or that she has been left to rot in a prison, because she dared to live in a safe country,” Battisson said.

“I think we can do better in Australia.”

Ms Battisson has tried to get the government to intervene overseas. At the very least, she would like to see women fleeing violent situations and seeking asylum in Australia put on a watch list.

When she reported foreign interference to various government agencies, no one seemed surprised, she said.

“There have been cases in Australia and other countries where Saudi women have been targeted for deportation and murdered. What really upsets me is that this could have been prevented,” she said.

“If her name was on an airport list for Saudi women at risk, perhaps this could be stopped.”

The Attorney-General’s Office, which oversees the Australian Federal Police, told Daily Mail Australia it could not comment on the matter.

Contact was also made with the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Royal Saudi Embassy in Canberra.

Do you know more? Send an email to charlotte.karp@mailonline.com