A 28-year-old history teacher from Kazan was sold to an underground religious correction center in Riad where she was kept suspended by her wrists for 19 days until she died of multiple organ failure.
Officially, Olesia Mansurova is listed as missing.
In the summer of 2023, Olesia Manserova received an offer that seemed like the perfect start to a new life.
Quran Learning International, a company registered in Bahrain, offered her a teaching contract at a private Islamic school for girls in the capital of Saudi Arabia.
The salary of $3,000 was 10 times her monthly income in Kazan.
Free housing, transportation, medical insurance.
The conditions seemed perfect for a young teacher who dreamed of international experience.
The company representatives made an exceptional impression on Allesia.
During video calls, they spoke calmly and politely, demonstrated a deep knowledge of Islamic pedagogy and emphasized the importance of girls education in the modern world.
A middle-aged man who introduced himself as the human resources director quoted the Quran and talked about progressive methods of teaching history through the prism of Islamic values.
A woman in a hijab who identified herself as the school’s deputy director explained in detail the system of mentoring and support for foreign teachers.
Alicia checked the company’s registration details through official sources in Bahrain.
The educational license was valid, the address existed, and the contact details worked.
On social media, she found profiles of several teachers who allegedly worked on similar projects for the company in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Their posts looked natural.
Photos with students, stories about cultural differences, gratitude for the hospitality of their Arab colleagues.
The contract arrived in English and Arabic notorized in Manama.
Olesia hired a translator in Kazan to check the Arabic text.
The document contained standard terms and conditions of employment, social guarantees, and a detailed description of the duties of a history teacher for girls aged 12 to 16.
The only peculiarity was the wording about the need to observe local religious traditions and dress code, which seemed natural for a conservative country.
Alicia’s parents treated her plans with caution, but did not interfere.
Her father, an engineer at a factory, spoke about the importance of international experience for his daughter’s career.
Her mother, an accountant, was concerned about safety, but recognized the financial benefits of the offer.
Olesia promised to call everyday and come home for the winter holidays.
10 days after signing the contract, she received a ticket for a flight from Kazan to Moscow to Riyad and a visa issued as a work visa for the education sector.
At Doadeo airport, she was seen off by colleagues from the school where she had worked for the past 4 years.
The principal gave her a book on Russian history in English for her future students, and the deputy principal asked her to bring souvenirs from Saudi Arabia.
The flight went smoothly.
On the plane, Olesia met a Russian family flying to Riyad on her husband’s work contract as an oil worker.
The woman talked about life in a closed compound for foreigners, the difficulties of adapting, but also the opportunities that working in a rich country opens up.
They exchanged contact details and agreed to meet when Olayia settled into her new home.
At King Khaled airport, Olesia was met by a man in traditional white clothing who introduced himself as Ahmed.
He spoke English with an accent, but clearly enough.
He showed her a sign with her name on it and his school transport service employee passport.
He explained that he was taking her to the mentor’s house, where she would spend her first week orienting herself and getting to know her colleagues before starting work.
The car was a regular dark-coled sedan with no school identification marks.
Akmed apologized for the lack of air conditioning and suggested that Olesia close her eyes from the bright desert sun and read a few suras from the Quran to bless the start of her work.
He turned on an audio recording of a man’s voice chanting Arabic text and asked her to repeat the words after the reader.
Alicia sent her last voice message to her colleague, Marina, at 1:47 p.
m.
local time.
The driver met me and said he would take me to the mentor’s house.
Something strange.
He asks me to close my eyes and read the suras.
Probably a local tradition.
I’ll write in the evening when I’ve settled in.
After that, her phone was no longer reachable, and all her social media accounts were deleted within 24 hours.
3 weeks later, 24year-old refugee Abdullah Sarhan was detained at a checkpoint on the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Border guards found him in the cargo compartment of a van transporting construction materials.
He did not resist arrest and immediately requested political asylum in exchange for information about crimes he had witnessed in Riad.
Abdullah told immigration officers that he had worked for 9 months as a technical employee at an institution called Madrasa Al-Nur, officially registered as a center for religious education and spiritual purification for women.
The building was located in an industrial area on the outskirts of the capital far from residential neighborhoods and tourist areas.
According to Abdullah, his duties included cleaning the premises, delivering food, and maintaining the building’s technical systems.
He was forbidden from talking to the women held at the facility, and from entering certain areas without being accompanied by security.
Violation of the rules was punishable by immediate dismissal and deportation.
However, after several months of work, Abdullah began to notice strange things.
Screams could be heard coming from the basement, which the staff explained were prayer practices.
The facility’s doctor, Dr.
Sad Al-Haredi, regularly went down to the basement with medical instruments, and each time came back up with bloodstained clothes.
Guards carried the lifeless bodies of women who were officially referred to as patients undergoing treatment for spiritual ailments.
One day when the main staff was away for Friday prayers, Abdullah went down to the restricted area.
In one of the basement cells, he found a woman of European appearance suspended by her wrists from a metal beam.
Her feet did not touch the floor.
Her hands were tied with steel cables and her mouth was sewn shut with coarse thread.
There were burns from electric wires on her thighs, and on the wall written in Arabic letters were the words, “She resisted purification.
” Abdullah secretly filmed what was happening on his phone.
Realizing that he was witnessing a serious crime, the video lasted about 3 minutes and showed the woman in agony, slowly dying from torture.
He did not dare to free her, fearing for his own life, but he remembered the location of the camera and the time of filming.
A week later, the woman died.
Abdullah saw her body being carried out in a garbage bag and loaded into a crematorium minibus.
In the documents, she was listed as Aisha Bent Khaled, a Syrian refugee who died of acute heart failure during religious fasting.
Dr.
Al-Harazzi personally signed the death certificate.
After this incident, Abdullah began planning his escape.
He understood that he had witnessed a murder and that his own life could be in danger.
He saved money, studied routes to the border, and waited for the right moment.
The opportunity arose when a truck driver he knew agreed to secretly take him out of the country for $500.
His escape plan did not come about by chance.
Abdullah understood that he had witnessed a horrific crime and that his silence made him an accomplice.
The video he had made in the basement was the only evidence of the nightmare that was unfolding.
He was aware of the risk, but he could not live with the knowledge that women were continuing to die in agony while the world remained unaware.
It took months to prepare for his escape.
Abdullah saved every realal from his $250 monthly salary, lived in a dormatory for migrant workers, and denied himself everything but the bare necessities.
He studied truck routes, found out the schedules of security shifts at border crossings, and talked to other desperate people who dreamed of returning home.
The decisive role was played by Ysef, a Yemeni truck driver who regularly transported construction materials between Riad and the border areas.
For $500, he agreed to hide Abdullah in the cargo compartment among bags of cement and drive him to the border.
The plan was for Abdullah to get out of the truck a few kilometers before the border crossing and try to cross the border on foot through desert areas.
However, the truck was thoroughly inspected at the checkpoint.
Border guards found Abdullah exhausted from the heat and lack of air among the construction materials.
Ysef was arrested for illegal transportation of people and later deported to Yemen.
Abdullah ended up in a detention cell where he told his story to immigration officers.
Initially his testimony was met with disbelief.
The story of secret torture of women in a religious center seemed too incredible even for the skeptical border guards.
However, when Abdullah showed a video recording on his phone, the atmosphere in the interrogation room changed dramatically.
The officers saw footage that could not fail to shock even hardened security service employees.
The 3 minute and 20 second video showed a woman of European appearance suspended by her wrists from a metal beam in a basement room.
Her feet did not touch the floor and her hands were tied behind her back with steel cables.
Her mouth was sewn shut with coarse black thread and her thighs showed burns from electric wires.
Written on the wall in Arabic letters were the words, “She resisted purification.
” The woman was unconscious, her body hanging limply from the restraints.
Bruises were visible on her arms from the cables that had cut into her skin down to the bone.
A pool of blood and other bodily fluids was visible on the floor beneath her.
The camera showed a close-up of her face, swollen from beatings, her eyes closed, but still recognizable.
The quality of the recording was sufficient for identification.
Abdullah filmed secretly, so the image was slightly shaky, but the main details were clearly visible.
In the background, part of the room was visible.
Stone walls, metal suspension fittings, medical instruments on a steel table, containers with unknown liquids.
The border guards immediately contacted the Central Security Service.
The case was transferred to a special unit investigating crimes against state security.
Abdullah was transferred to more comfortable conditions of detention and was granted the status of a witness under state protection.
At the same time, attempts to identify the victim began.
A request was sent to Interpol with a description of the woman’s appearance and the circumstances of her alleged disappearance.
European human rights organizations, which received a copy of the video through diplomatic channels, brought in experts in biometric identification.
The breakthrough came a week after Abdullah’s arrest.
Olivia Mansurova’s parents contacted the Russian consulate in Riad with a statement about their daughter’s disappearance.
They provided photographs, medical records, and documents about her education and work history.
Consulate staff compared this data with information received from human rights activists.
Biometric analysis conducted by independent experts in London showed a 98% match between the woman in the video and Olesia Mansurova’s photographs.
The experts took into account the deformationation of the face from beatings and swelling, but the main anatomical features matched almost completely.
The Russian diplomatic service immediately sent an official request to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the whereabouts of citizen Mansurova.
The response came 2 weeks later.
No record of a woman with that name and passport details entering the country was found in the databases.
The visa services also had no data on the issuance of a work visa to that name.
Meanwhile, BBC journalists who had received information about the case from sources in human rights organizations began their own investigation.
They contacted Olyia’s colleagues in Kazan, obtained records of her last phone calls, and studied her correspondence on social media.
Gradually, the picture of her disappearance began to emerge.
Her colleagues confirmed that Olesia had received a job offer from Curran Learning International and was excited about the prospects.
They remembered her stories about the interviews, her impression of the company’s professionalism, and her plans for the future.
The last voice message sent from Riyad airport was the last trace of her life.
An investigation by British journalists led to the discovery of links between Quran Learning International and the Bayet Al-Sali Foundation.
The company formally registered in Bahrain had common founders with several organizations funded by the foundation.
Cash flows showed that Quran learning was in fact a front for attracting foreign female specialists under the guise of educational programs.
The Bite Al-Sali Foundation belonged to the influential theologian Sheikh Abdulatif binyaha al- Faraj known for his strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The 62-year-old shik was the author of numerous fatwas justifying the forced correction of women who in his opinion had strayed from the true path.
He regularly preached about the need to purify society from western influence.
Al Farage held influential positions in the kingdom’s religious hierarchy.
He was a member of the advisory council to the Grand MUI, had connections in the ruling family, and enjoyed the patronage of several princes.
His foundation was officially involved in charity and religious education.
But according to internal documents obtained by journalists, it also financed a network of closed institutions for spiritual correction.
The Al-Nur Madrasa, where Abdullah worked, was one such institution.
Officially, it was listed as a center for religious education for women from disadvantaged families.
In practice, women accused of violating religious norms ended up there, refusing to wear the hijab, attempting to obtain an education without the consent of their guardians, wanting to work or travel independently.
In addition to local residents, the Madrasa also held foreign women who had entered the country under various pretexts.
Analysis of documents showed that over the past 5 years, dozens of women from different countries had passed through such institutions.
Teachers from the Philippines, nurses from India, domestic workers from Ethiopia, and specialists from European countries.
The treatment methods included prolonged suspension by the arms, restriction of food and water, the use of electric shocks, and psychological manipulation through forced reading of religious texts.
The facility’s doctor, Dr.
Sad Al-Harazzi, regularly recorded the condition of the patients and determined the intensity of the treatment.
His notes, partially recovered from leaked data, showed a cynical attitude toward human suffering.
According to these records, Olesia was brought to the Madrasa under the name Mariam Alusia, Russian Mariam.
Her diagnosis was resistance to spiritual purification and adherence to western values.
Treatment began immediately upon arrival and continued for 19 days until her death from multiple organ failure.
Dr.
Al-Harazzi’s medical report listed the cause of death as acute heart failure as a result of religious fasting.
This diagnosis was signed without an autopsy or independent examination.
The body was immediately transferred to the crematorium under the fictitious name of Aisha Bent Khaled, allegedly a Syrian refugee without documents who died of natural causes.
The crematorium belonged to a private company that had a long-term contract with the bite alsatorium employees did not ask questions about the identity of the deceased and received bonus payments for maintaining confidentiality.
The remains were cremated within 6 hours of the body’s arrival, which ruled out the possibility of a second examination.
An international scandal quickly developed.
The Russian Foreign Ministry sent an official note of protest to the Saudi government demanding immediate information on the whereabouts of citizen Mansurova.
The response came through the Russian consulate in Riad.
No records of a woman with such passport details entering Saudi Arabia were found in the databases of the Saudi Interior Ministry.
At the same time, Russian diplomats asked the Bahraini authorities to provide information about the company Kuran Learning International.
It turned out that the company had been registered just 2 weeks before contacting Olayia and was liquidated the day after her disappearance.
Its registered address turned out to be a post office box and the contact numbers were not answered.
The company’s online presence also vanished.
Its website, social media profiles, and advertisements were all deleted within 24 hours.
An examination of the IP addresses showed that the site was hosted on servers in Qatar via a network of proxy servers, making it virtually impossible to identify the real owners.
British journalists from the BBC gained access to the video through a network of human rights organizations.
The material was examined by an independent laboratory in London which confirmed its authenticity.
Analysis showed that the recording was made on a mobile phone model common in the region with no signs of digital processing or editing.
However, the editorial board decided not to publish the video for ethical reasons.
The editor-inchief of the investigative department said that the material contains scenes of extreme cruelty that could traumatize viewers and violate the dignity of the victim.
Instead of publishing the video, a detailed written investigation was prepared describing the circumstances of the case.
The investigation revealed the systematic nature of crimes within the network of institutions associated with the Bate Al-Salich Foundation.
Over the past 5 years, hundreds of women have passed through such centers, most of whom did not survive.
There were no official statistics, but leaked internal documents showed horrific mortality rates.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and calling for an international investigation into the activities of religious detention centers.
However, the document was only a recommendation and did not provide for specific sanctions.
Amnesty International published a special report on the system of religious correction for women in Saudi Arabia.
The document mentioned the existence of 23 similar institutions across the country where women accused of violating religious and social norms are held.
Olesia’s parents continued their attempts to have their daughter’s body returned.
They appealed to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner.
Everywhere, they received standard responses about diplomatic efforts and the impossibility of taking specific measures without the cooperation of the Saudi side.
Olesia’s mother gave several interviews to Russian media in which she talked about her last conversations with her daughter, her plans and dreams.
Her father tried to fly to Riad on his own, but was denied a visa without explanation.
Relatives created groups on social media in an attempt to draw public attention to Olayia’s fate.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Sarhan was deported back to Yemen under the escort of the Saudi security service.
At the Saha airport, he was met by representatives of the Houthi government who provided him with temporary asylum.
Abdullah gave an interview to local journalists in which he spoke in detail about his testimony.
However, a week later, Abdullah disappeared from his home in Sara.
Neighbors reported that people in military uniform arrived at night and took him away to an unknown destination.
The authorities announced that a search had been launched, but no results were forthcoming.
Since then, nothing has been known about the fate of the only witness, Imam Mahmud Al- Gambi, who oversaw the activities of the Al-Nur Madrasa, also disappeared without a trace.
He was last seen on the premises of the institution on the day the international investigation began.
Colleagues claimed that he had gone on vacation to visit relatives in a remote province, but checks showed that his relatives did not live at the address provided.
Dr.
Sad Al-Harazzi continued to work in the Saudi Arabian health care system.
He was transferred to another medical facility in the province and received a promotion.
When asked by journalists about his role in the case, he replied that he had performed his professional duties in accordance with local law and religious precepts.
Shik Abdulatif bin Yaha al- Faraj publicly denied any connection between his foundation and the crimes described.
In an interview with the official Saudi media, he claimed that a smear campaign was being waged against Islamic values and religious education.
His lawyers filed lawsuits against several international publications to protect his honor and dignity.
Al-Nau Madrasa was officially closed by local authorities due to violations of sanitary standards.
The building was sealed and the staff dismissed.
A month later, the premises were transferred to another religious organization to be used as a Quran study center for men.
The international human rights community continued to demand an independent investigation, but had no real leverage over the Saudi authorities.
Economic ties between Saudi Arabia and Western countries remained a priority over human rights issues.
The Russian public continued to follow developments in the case, but official information was released in small doses through diplomatic channels.
Alicia’s parents regularly contacted the embassy to demand that the search for their daughter be intensified, but received standard responses about negotiations with the Saudi side.
Consular officials explained that without confirmation that Mansurova had entered Saudi Arabia, further action was extremely limited.
A year after Olesia’s disappearance, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a final note to the Saudi government demanding that it provide all available information about the fate of the missing Russian citizen.
The response was received 3 months later.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior confirmed that there were no records of a woman with the specified passport details entering, staying in, or leaving the country.
At the same time, the Russian authorities requested information from the Bahraini authorities about the activities of the company Quran Learning International.
It turned out that the company was registered to a front man, Yemen citizen Ali Iban Sahed Al-Hadrami, who had died 6 months before the business was officially registered.
The legal address turned out to be non-existent and the bank accounts were closed on the day the company was liquidated.
An examination of financial flows showed that the company’s operating funds came through a complex system of offshore structures in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.
The ultimate beneficiaries remained unidentified as the scheme involved numerous front companies and nominal owners.
Attempts to trace the cash flows to their source were hampered by banking secrecy and the unwillingness of financial institutions to cooperate in the investigation.
British journalists continued to gather material for the investigation but faced systematic opposition.
Witnesses refused to be interviewed, documents disappeared, and sources in Saudi agencies cut off contact.
The BBC received an official warning from Shik Al Faraj’s lawyers about possible legal action if inaccurate information was published.
The only material evidence of the crime was the video filmed by Abdullah Sarhan.
However, after the witness disappeared, the legal value of the recording became questionable.
Lawyers argued that the material could not be used in court without the testimony of the person who made it and without the ability to verify the circumstances of the filming.
Nevertheless, human rights organizations continued to refer to the case of Allesia Mansura in reports on human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.
Amnesty International included her name in its list of victims of repression against women in the kingdom.
Human Rights Watch used the case to criticize the international community for tacitly accepting human rights violations for the sake of economic interests.
The European Parliament twice adopted resolutions condemning the disappearance of the Russian citizen and calling for an international investigation into the activities of religious detention centers.
However, the documents were declarative in nature and did not imply the introduction of specific sanctions against Saudi Arabia or individuals involved in the case.
The United Nations included the case of Allesia Mansura in the report of the working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances.
Saudi Arabia was notified of the need to provide explanations on this case, but no official response was received.
Representatives of the kingdom at the UN limited themselves to stating that they considered such accusations to be part of a campaign to discredit the country.
Olesia’s family exhausted all legal avenues to seek justice.
Her parents turned to private detective agencies, offered rewards for information, and tried to attract the attention of the international media.
However, without the support of state structures and the cooperation of the Saudi authorities, these efforts were unsuccessful.
Olesia’s colleagues at her school in Kazan organized a memorial plaque in her honor.
Despite the lack of official confirmation of her death, the school principal said that they remember Olesia as a talented teacher and a wonderful person whose fate should serve as a warning to anyone planning to work abroad.
2 years after Olesia’s disappearance, the world learned of the death of Shik Abdulatif Binyaka Al- Faraj, the official cause of death of the 74year-old theologian was heart failure.
His bite al-Sali foundation was reorganized and transferred to the management of another religious organization.
The activities of the Al-Nur Madrasa and similar institutions were officially terminated.
Dr.
Assad al-Harazzi continued his medical practice at a provincial hospital and was awarded the title of honored doctor of Saudi Arabia for his many years of service in the health care system.
When asked by journalists about his past work, he replied that he had always been guided by the hypocratic oath and local laws.
To this day, Olesia Manserova is officially listed as missing.
The Russian authorities have not recognized her death because there is no documentary evidence and her body has not been found in passport databases.
She is still listed as a valid citizen with unlimited validity of documents.
All those involved in the tragedy know the truth.
Her parents who lost their only daughter know it.
Diplomats who are powerless in the face of political and economic interests know it.
Human rights activists who cannot break through the wall of silence and mutual cover up know it.
Journalists who have evidence but cannot make it public due to ethical considerations and legal restrictions know it.
The case of Olesia Mansura has become a symbol of impunity flourishing under the guise of religious traditions and geopolitical interests.
Her death in the basement of the Madrasa was not an accident or the result of a misunderstanding.
It was part of a system that continues to exist and destroy the lives of women who dare to seek a better future outside their home
