“I’m in real danger because the Saudi embassy trying to forcing me to go back to Saudi Arabia, while I’m at the airport waiting for my second flight,” she wrote in one post in English. In another post, she said: “They will kill me because I fled and because I announced my atheism. “Why did Rahaf go to Canada instead of her preferred choice of Australia where she had friends?” Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said in a tweet. “Because she needed safety from her Saudi pursuers fast, and Canada expedited her case while Australia (under Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton) slow-walked it.”Locally, there is concern about whether the move will further damage Canada’s already frayed relationship with Saudi Arabia. In August, the kingdom expelled the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh, recalled the Saudi ambassador to Ottawa and froze all new trade and investment deals with Canada after Ms. Freeland’s ministry posted two Twitter messages calling on Saudi Arabia to release imprisoned rights activists, including two who have family in Canada.

Source: New York Times January 12, 2019 19:52 UTC