Manama: A Saudi woman who has made headlines for fleeing her country after allegedly converting to Christianity has not actually given up her religion, a local daily said.
“She did not convert, but simply had some wrong concepts about Christianity under the influence of two colleagues, a Saudi and a Lebanese,” sources told Al Sharq. “She went through a stage of confusion because of the pressure on her to convert to Christianity. She left Saudi Arabia and went to Lebanon where she stayed for some days before moving out to Turkey. She is now in Sweden,” the sources that the paper did not identify said.
A relative told the daily that the woman, 28, had a strong urge to come home, but was afraid of what might happen.
The Saudi ambassador in Beirut this week said that the woman’s family tried to convince her to return home amid assurances that she would be safe, but she was not persuaded.
A video-taped interview conducted by a pro-Christianity TV allegedly with the woman was posted on a social network, but Al Sharq on Tuesday said that the girl, whose lower part of the face was covered, was not the Saudi woman.
The case was made public after the woman’s father filed a suit against the Saudi and Lebanese colleagues for their alleged influence on her to convert to Christianity and their role in facilitating her departure from Saudi Arabia.
The two men were arrested and released on bail, but the Lebanese was re-arrested after a court in Al Khobar, in the Eastern Province of the kingdom, held a pre-trial session that lasted four hours, Al Sharq said.
