Saudi teenager posts bikini photo next to one in hijab after fleeing to Canada, gets trolled online
A Saudi teen, who had been granted asylum in Canada after fleeing from her family, has recently been targeted on social media again after she posted a picture of herself in a bikini.
Eighteen-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun — she dropped al-Qunun from her name and declared herself an atheist after her family disowned her — had hit headlines last year after her dramatic escape to Canada. She is now in the news again following her latest tweet.
In the tweet, she posted side-by-side pictures of herself, one in which she was wearing a hijab, and the other, a bikini, and wrote, "The biggest change in my life.. from being forced to wear black sheets and being controlled by men to being a free woman."
Many in the comment section took offense at the picture, with some even accusing her of parading around "naked."
"I feel really sad for people like you, Saudi women are living in happiness," one wrote. "They are living a normal life, they drive, go to malls and now they travel alone, plus our prophet Muhammad said women and men are equal [sic]."
"It symbolizes modesty, chastity, and purity," a second user wrote. "And it protects women from harassment. Islam is the duty of dress, and men have nothing to do with the subject, she is trying to discredit us in any way possible."
But many praised her bravery as well. "I think you're one of the bravest Arab women, who totally was able to change to the 21st-century life, rather than living in our life in the Arab world as in 500 years old life culture. Congrats!!" one user tweeted.
"We need more people like you in this world," another posted. "Rahaf, what you did was incredibly brave. Be proud of what you have achieved."
Rahaf had previously come out to reveal she was physically and mentally abused by her family since the age of 16. She said she was beaten up for not praying and locked in the house for six months for cutting her hair short.
In January 2019, she fled to Thailand while visiting Kuwait with her family and drew international media attention after live-tweeting her ordeal as she barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room to stop Thai authorities from deporting her.
Following a 48-hour standoff at the airport, she was allowed to enter Thailand and processed as a refugee by the UN's refugee agency. She eventually moved to Canada after the country accepted a request from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take in the teen.
"My life was in danger and I felt I had nothing to lose," she later said. "I wanted to tell people my story and about what happens to Saudi women. I was exposed to physical violence, persecution, oppression, threats to be killed. I felt that I could not achieve my dreams that I wanted as long as I was still living in Saudi Arabia."
"It's daily oppression. We are treated as an object, like a slave. We could not make decisions about what we want."