One of the men, cited under the pseudonym Sultan, expressed his gratitude toward the gay community in an interview with the Star Observer: ‘’the gay community rallied around us in a way that was so endearing and so powerful that I really feel it was the gay community that did this,” He also emphasized the efforts for his release made by LGBT+ activist Ivan Hinton-Teoh. Sultan’s partner, cameraman Nassar (also a pseudonym), was released four days earlier. The delay in Sultan’s release was described as ‘’bureaucratic incompetence’’ by his lawyer.  

The two men entered Australia with a tourist visa back in October, but were taken into custody when they said they wanted to apply for asylum. Press agency Reuters reported that the Saudi intelligence service exposed the sexual orientation of one of the two men to the other man’s family. Sultan reportedly assisted foreign journalists in bringing human rights violations to light. Time reported that after being exposed, the two men started receiving death threats from family members.

Regarding his time in the Australian detention centre, Sultan expressed the following to Time: ‘’Although I’ve been threatened, intimidated and bullied in Saudi Arabia, I was never thrown in a jail cell without charge. That didn’t happen to us until we came to Australia.’’