Bodies of Tala and Rotana Farea were
found taped together at a riverbank in
New York without obvious signs of
trauma.

Saudi Arabia has denied any
involvement in the death of two Saudi
sisters studying in the United States, a
spokesperson for the kingdom's
embassy in Washington, DC, said.
The two young women, identified as
Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16,
were found on the banks of the Hudson
River on October 24 with no visible
signs of trauma.
The women were dressed all in black
and bound together at the ankles and
waist by duct tape.

According to local media reports, the
sisters' mother told US detectives that
she had received a phone call from the
Saudi embassy in Washington ordering
the family to leave the US.

The sisters had reportedly applied for
political asylum in the US.
However, the Saudi embassy
spokesperson denied the women were
ordered to come back to Saudi Arabia.
"Reports that we ordered anyone
related to the Saudi sisters to leave the
US for seeking asylum are absolutely
false," Fatimah Baeshen said on Twitter
on Saturday.
"Details are still under investigation and
will be shared in due course."

The sister had a
history of
running away
from their
family's home in
Virginia where
they had not
lived since the
end of 2017.
Investigators said they had not
determined the circumstances
surrounding their fate, but were
"puzzled" as to how they came to be
found dead on a riverbank more than
400km from their family's home.
They had been placed in a shelter but
left Fairfax County in August and set
out for New York.
They stayed in several different upscale
hotels in the city and maxed out a
credit card, according to an New York
Police Department (NYPD) spokesman
quoted by US media.
A witness reportedly saw the two girls
early on October 24 on a playground
near the Hudson, where they appeared
to be praying.
The NYPD said the two sisters were
alive when they entered the river that
separates New York from New Jersey.
On Friday, the police said they had no
evidence indicating that two sisters had
been killed.

"There is nothing pointing to a crime as
of yet," said an NYPD spokesperson,
adding that "it is still very much a live
investigation" without providing details
of any probable cause of death.
Suicide is among the hypotheses as to
the cause of their deaths.
The case has received considerable
media exposure in the aftermath of the
killing of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia's consulate
in Istanbul.

The New York
Police
Department sent
a detective to
Virginia to learn
more about the
sisters.
Chief of detectives Dermot Shea said
they were interested in finding out
what happened since they were
reported missing, and what led them to
New York City.
"We are looking at all clues in their past
life," Shea was quoted as saying.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/saudi-arabia-denies-involvement-death-sisters-york-181103113533941.html