Saudi Arabia has denied any link to the death of two Saudi sisters studying the United States.
Saudi Arabia has denied any link to the death of two Saudi sisters studying the United States.
Talal Farea, 16, and her sister Rotana, 22, were found dead duct-taped together in the Hudson River. U.S. media said the two sisters had applied for political asylum in the U.S.
Media reports claimed that relatives of the dead girls told police that a Saudi embassy official had telephoned them on Aug. 23 ordering them to return to Saudi Arabia.
But an embassy spokeswoman vehemently denied the claim.
"Reports we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters to leave the U.S. for seeking asylum are absolutely false,” Fatimah Baeshen said on Twitter on Saturday.
"Details are still under investigation and will be shared in due course," she added.
Last week, the Saudi Consulate in New York said it has appointed a lawyer to follow up the legal process of the case, pointing out that the girls were studying in the U.S.
Saudi Arabia has been facing world outcry since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to receive paperwork he needed to get married.
Once inside, he was immediately strangled and then dismembered, according to the Istanbul Prosecutor’s office.
Two sisters who were found dead in New York’s Hudson River had previously told acquaintances they would rather harm themselves than return to the Kingdom, police said Friday.The bodies of Tala Farea, 16, and her sister Rotana, 23, were found on Oct. 23 floating near Riverside Park about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) downriver from the George Washington Bridge, which connects Manhattan with the state of New Jersey.The New York Police Department, which has been investigating the case, said the sisters told people in Virginia, the state where they lived, that they would rather commit suicide instead of returning to Saudi Arabia, according to multiple reports.Their bodies were found bound together with tape, but police said there was no evidence of foul play, adding there is evidence that they were alive when they entered the Hudson River.Prior to their deaths, the Farea sisters had stayed in luxurious hotels after traveling to New York from Virginia.Police said a witness told them he spotted the sisters praying near the Hudson River before their bodies were recovered.Officials did not explicitly identify a cause of death, and the investigation is ongoing.Norway summoned Saudi ambassador over Khashoggi murderSaudi coalition in Yemen attacks Sanaa sites, clashes in HodeidahSaudi prince disparaged Khashoggi in US calls: report
US police said Saudi sisters didn’t want to return home