Shortly after her arrival, Qunun went shopping for some warm clothes in central Ontario, according to the spokesman, noting the teenager knows several people there and contacted them. Rights groups also said she had renounced Islam, risking prosecution in Saudi Arabia. Ties went sideways last August over Ottawa’s rights criticism of Saudi Arabia, prompting Riyadh to expel the Canadian ambassador and sever all trade and investment ties in protest. Qunun’s attempt to flee Saudi Arabia was embraced by rights groups as a beacon of defiance against repression. “The only country that really helped me in the end was Canada,” Qunun said after arriving in Toronto.

Source: Egypt Independent January 13, 2019 01:07 UTC