Saudi sisters hope for bright future after hiding in Hong Kong

Two Saudi Arabian sisters are hoping for a 'bright, beautiful future' after being granted asylum, fleeing what they describe as an abusive family and a repressive society.

The sisters fled from their family last September while on holiday in Sri Lanka and have been stranded in Hong Kong since an aborted attempt to get to Australia, where they hoped to secure asylum.

For reasons of safety, the sisters, aged 18 and 20, who say they were beaten by their father and brothers, asked that their names and faces not be revealed, nor the country to which they have now gone.

"Oh my God, I was so happy," the curly haired younger sister said recently, describing how she felt when told asylum had been secured. "I screamed 'It's real, it's happening' ... It was just relief and unforgettable."

The sisters spoke in a room on the 22nd floor of a Hong Kong hotel shortly before they left the city. Hong Kong-based rights lawyer, Michael Vidler, who has been helping them, attended.

They said they had lived in fear for six months, shuttling between 15 safe houses, staying with a nun, families and at a shelter for abused women.

They feared being intercepted by Saudi officials or relatives and forced to return home, where they believe they could be punished for renouncing Islam, which is punishable by death under the Saudi system of Islamic law. The Saudi consulate in Hong Kong has not responded to requests for comment.

In a statement late on Monday, Vidler confirmed the sisters had successfully travelled to a third country on 'humanitarian visas'.

"To ensure their future security we will not be disclosing the third country where the sisters are now living, nor will we be providing any further details," he wrote on the Facebook page of his law firm. "The sisters will not be giving any further media interviews."

The sisters said they were treated harshly, at times beaten, by their brothers and father.

"They were like my jailer, like my prison officer. I was like a prisoner," the younger sister previously said to a news agency. - Anne Marie Roantree and James Pomfret