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Saudi woman to stay in Thailand
The 18-year-old who fled her family over alleged abuse will be allowed to stay while her case is evaluated.
BANGKOK — An 18year-old Saudi woman who fled her family over alleged abuse and barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room in a desperate bid for asylum will be allowed to stay in Thailand while her case is evaluated by the U.N. refugee agency, immigration authorities said Monday.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun grabbed global attention when she sent out pleas for help via social media, saying she feared for her life if she were put on a plane back to Kuwait, where she had slipped away from her family, or her homeland.
Instead, she has been allowed to enter Thailand temporarily under the protection of the U.N. refugee agency, which was expected to take about 5 to 7 days to study her case and her claim for asylum. She said she wants to go to Australia to seek refuge.
“We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law,” said Thai Immigration Police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn. Photos released Monday night by immigration police showed Alqunun with Thai and U.N. officials after she left the hotel room where she had been holed up over the weekend, sending pleas for help on her Twitter account. She tweeted that she feels safe under U.N. protection and has gotten back her passport, which was taken earlier.
Alqunun’s ordeal began when she fled from her family while in Kuwait and boarded a flight to Thailand, apparently taking advantage of being away from Saudi Arabia’s restrictions on women who cannot travel abroad without a man’s consent.
Upon arriving at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Saturday night, she said she was met by a man whom she identified at times as either a Kuwait Airways employee or a Saudi diplomat, who took her passport and said he would help her gain entry to Thailand. Saudi Arabia denies its officials were involved.
When the man returned about an hour later with four or five other people, they said they knew she had run away, that her family wanted her back, and she should go home to Saudi Arabia. She was sent to a hotel room, and told she would be put on a Monday morning flight to Kuwait.
She then went online, sending out pleas for assistance over Twitter, and also barricaded her hotel room door. Global attention was sparked by social media and she did not get on the flight to Kuwait.
Alqunun wrote of being in “real danger” if forced to return to her family in Saudi Arabia, and said in media interviews that she might be killed. She told the BBC that she had renounced Islam and was fearful of her father’s retaliation.
Her Twitter account attracted more than 66,000 followers in less than 48 hours and her story grabbed the attention of foreign governments and the U.N. refugee agency.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press that Thailand should let Alqunun continue her journey to Australia.
“She has a valid Australian visa,” he said. “The key thing is she should not be sent back to Saudi Arabia, she should not be sent back into harm’s way.”