Two Saudi sisters who fled to Georgia saying they feared being killed if they returned home said they were moving to another country.
In a short video posted to Twitter on May 7, the sisters, Wafa al-Subaie, 25, and Maha al-Subaie, 28, thanked their supporters. They did not say where they were moving.
“We are thrilled to announce that we are leaving Georgia. We are on our way to start a new life in a new country. We want to thank everyone who supported us and was there for us locally and overseas. We also want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who signed our petition,” they said in the post.
There was no immediate comment from Georgian authorities.
The sisters, who appealed for help via social media last month, became the subject of the latest incident involving Saudi citizens -- mainly women -- fleeing the kingdom and appealing for international support.
On April 18, the sisters told RFE/RL that they chose to come Georgia only because Saudis don’t need entry visas to go to the country.
“We don’t know anybody in Georgia. We just decided to come here because there is a visa-free regime...We didn’t have any other option,” the sisters said.
More than 40,000 people signed a Change.org petition by the women asking for the United Nations to help them gain asylum in a "safe third country."
In January, a Saudi teen holed up in a Thai airport hotel to escape her family won asylum in Canada.
And in March, two Saudi sisters, aged 18 and 20, managed to travel to a third country after securing humanitarian visas in Hong Kong as they sought to escape what they said was an abusive family.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the women had received Georgian passports.
