Saudi asylum seeker heading to Canada

SEVERAL COUNTRIES IN TALKS

A SAUDI teenager who holed up in Thailand after fleeing alleged abuse by her family will leave Bangkok for Canada, according to Thailand’s immigration police chief.

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, 18, was due to leave on a flight late yesterday evening, said Police Chief Surachate Hakparn.

He earlier said that several countries, including Canada and Australia, were in talks with the UN refugee agency on accepting Ms Mohammed Alqunun.

She was on her way to Australia last Saturday, but was stopped at a Bangkok airport by immigration police who seized her passport.

She barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and launched a social media campaign that drew global attention to her case.

Thai officials agreed to admit her temporarily under the protection of UN officials who granted her refugee status on Wednesday.

The case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home.

If Canada takes Ms Mohammed Alqunun, it could further upset Saudi-Canada relations. In August, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador to the kingdom and withdrew its own ambassador in a row over the arrests of women’s right activists.