After Australia, Canada offers asylum to Saudi asylum seeker
BANGKOK: Several countries including Canada and Australia are in talks with the UN refugee agency to accept a Saudi asylum seeker who fled alleged abuse from her family, Thai police said on Friday.
Thailand’s immigration police chief, Surachate Hakparn, told reporters the UN was accelerating the case, though he gave no indication of when the process would be complete.
Rahaf Mohammed al-qunun was stopped at a Bangkok airport on Saturday by Thai immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport.
While barricading herself in an airport hotel room, the 18-year-old launched a social media campaign via her Twitter account that drew global attention to her case. It garnered enough public and diplomatic support to convince Thai officials to admit her temporarily under the protection of UN officials.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees eventually granted her refugee status on Wednesday.
Rahaf’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases have gone unreported.
By Friday, Rahaf had closed down her Twitter account. Sophie Mcneill, a reporter with ABC who has had exclusive access to her, said on Friday in a Twitter posting that Rahaf “is safe. She’s just been receiving a lot of death threats.”