Thai cops: We won’t deport Saudi woman against her wishes

BANGKOK: The head of Thailand’s immigration police says an 18-year-old Saudi woman, who was stopped in Bangkok as she was trying to travel to Australia for asylum to escape alleged abuse by her family, will not be sent anywhere against her wishes.

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun was allowed to temporarily enter Thailand under the protection of the United Nations refugee agency, which was expected to take at least five to seven days to evaluate her case.

Thai immigration cops released photos of Rahaf after she left the room at a Bangkok airport hotel where she had been holed up. Where she would stay in the Thai capital was not announced.

Rahaf had stayed in the room while sending out desperate pleas for help on social media. She began posting on Twitter on Saturday after her passport was taken away when she arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait.

The deal to let her leave the airport came after officials from the UN refugee agency UNHCR met with Thai immigration police chief Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn, and then with Rahaf.

UNHCR declined to release any details of its meeting with Rahaf, but its representative in Thailand, Giuseppe De Vincentiis, noted “a good spirit of collaboration so far” with Thai officials.

Surachate said Rahaf’s father was due to arrive in Bangkok yesterday night, and officials would then see if she was willing to depart with him.

He said Rahaf would be asked if she was willing to meet with her father.

“As of now, she does not wish to go back and we will not force her. She won’t be sent anywhere tonight,” Surachate said.

“She fled hardship. Thailand is a land of smiles. We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law.”

Rahaf had tweeted being in “real danger” if forced to return to her family in Saudi Arabia, and has claimed in media interviews that she could be killed. — AP