Saudi Sisters' Mysterious Deaths in Sydney Linked to Online 'Suicide Drink'
Investigators have concluded that two Saudi sisters, whose bodies were discovered under mysterious circumstances in their Sydney apartment, likely consumed a 'suicide drink' that can be purchased online. The naked remains of Asra Abdullah Alsehli, aged 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, aged 23, were found inside their Canterbury flat in the city's south-west in June 2022.
Fleeing Saudi Arabia with Limited Funds
The sisters had fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 with only $5,000 to their names. Their bodies were not discovered for at least a month after they died in separate rooms of the $480-a-week unit. At the time of their deaths, both women had active claims with Home Affairs seeking asylum in Australia. It has been suggested they were living in fear after falling out with their family in the Islamic kingdom.
A police source informed the Daily Mail that detectives believe the sisters took their own lives. 'We believe that they drank a suicide drink together and that's what killed them,' the source said. 'The substance takes the oxygen out of your blood and causes sudden death. It could be ordered online off the dark web. They were there for a long time and weren't in a good condition when they were found.'
Complex Coronial Investigation Underway
The Daily Mail has chosen not to disclose the ingredients or further details about the suspected substance. Earlier this year, it was revealed that the long-running coronial investigation into the sisters' deaths was so complex it had been transferred from police to the Crown Solicitor's Office. A spokesman for the NSW Coroner's Court stated a brief review was conducted on February 9, with the file passed to State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan, though no hearing date has been set yet.
Police told Ms O'Sullivan the Alsehli investigation was 'too big' for an individual advocate, leading to the referral. Claims yet to be tested in the coronial process suggest police believed the siblings made a suicide pact after being cut off by their family. It appears the pair remained holed up inside the flat from shortly after they stopped receiving money from Saudi Arabia in late February 2022 until their deaths, possibly in early May.
Toxicology Reports and Financial Struggles
Toxicology reports, initially inconclusive, recorded unusual levels of sodium, nitrate, and fluoride in the apartment. The sisters, who shared a black BMW coupe, received a final payment of over $4,400 from family in Saudi Arabia on February 3. Amaal, who managed the funds, paid their $960 fortnightly rent and transferred $2,000 to her sister.
Police conducted three welfare checks on the sisters in the months before their deaths as mail piled up outside their door. When sheriff's officers arrived to evict them on June 7, 2022, they located the two bodies in separate bedrooms. After arriving in Australia in 2017, the sisters lived in Fairfield, a western Sydney suburb with a large Arabic-speaking community, where they enrolled at a local TAFE and worked as traffic controllers.
Asylum Claims and Similar Cases
In 2022, they applied for subclass 866 protection visas, requiring legal arrival and valid reasons for seeking asylum. In their applications, Asra claimed to be an atheist while Amaal identified as a lesbian. Both same-sex relationships and atheism are forbidden in Saudi Arabia, where the legal system is based on a strict interpretation of sharia law. Reports in Middle Eastern newspapers stated the sisters had renounced Islam.
An eerily similar case involved two Saudi sisters, Rotana Farea, 23, and Tala Farea, 16, found dead beside New York's Hudson River in October 2018. Authorities ruled their deaths as a suicide pact, with the sisters bound together at the waist with duct tape after drowning. Reports indicated they were seeking asylum and had stated they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.
Ongoing Investigation and Aftermath
Sources with knowledge of the Alsehli investigation believe the young women were aware of the dangers of returning to Saudi Arabia and chose to take their own lives. The sisters' only known interaction with the Australian justice system occurred in 2018 when Asra filed an apprehended violence order application against a 28-year-old man, which was withdrawn the following year. The bodies of Amaal and Asra Alsehli were returned to Saudi Arabia in August 2022.
