After being separated from their family for months, two Saudi Arabian sisters were discovered dead in their Sydney apartment. Police believe the sisters committed suicide together.
Five years after fleeing their country and arriving in Australia with $5,000 in savings, Amaal and Asra Abdullah Alsehli, ages 23 and 24, were discovered dead in their Canterbury flat in the southwest on June 7, 2022.
According to the NSW Police Department, they believe the two stayed locked inside their flat from late February until their deaths in early April. In February, their cashflow from their family was cut off.
Toxicology examinations, which were eventually inconclusive, discovered abnormal amounts of salt, nitrate, and fluoride in the dwelling, suggesting ‘strongly’ that the sisters died due to a suicide pact.
One insider told reporters that money was coming to them from their family that stopped in February.
Authorities don’t know what caused it to cease, but the family disagreed with members living abroad.
On February 3, 2022, the sisters received a last payment from relatives in Saudi Arabia totaling more than $4,400.
Amaal, the money manager, paid $960 toward their biweekly rent and sent $2,000 to her sibling.
After two years of being ‘excellent’ tenants and providing evidence of ‘ample’ savings, the women fell behind on their rent in early 2022, according to their landlord Jay Hu.
The building’s manager, Michael Baird called the police to check on the two ladies, but they wouldn’t let them in.
When the door was finally opened, he said, they told the police that they were OK and hoped the cops wouldn’t get involved.
It is unknown what led to their deaths; however, numerous accounts blame tensions between the girls and their “well-connected” relatives.
The Australian newspapers stated that Asra claimed to be an atheist and that Amaal identified as a homosexual in their respective applications.
In January 2022, the sisters were reported missing after attending an LGBT event for girls only.
In Saudi Arabia, where the legislation is based on a literal interpretation of Sharia law, same-sex partnerships, and atheism are criminal offenses.
When the shocking discovery occurred, reports in Middle Eastern publications claimed that the sisters had abandoned Islam.
The Saudi government received the bodies of Amaal and Asra in August of last year.
A coroner will now determine the formal cause of death.
