Saudi woman, 18, detained at Thai airport, fears she will be killed if deported home- Given asylum in Canada

[Shiloh]

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/4820335/rahaf-alqunun-saudi-woman-thailand-australia/

January 6, 2019 3:42 pm
Updated: January 7, 2019 7:52 am
Saudi woman, 18, detained at Thai airport, fears she will be killed if deported home
By Rahul Kalvapalle National Online Journalist Global News

An 18-year-old Saudi woman says she has been detained at Thailand?s main international airport at the behest of Saudi authorities who want to stop her from fleeing to Australia.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun began tweeting about her ordeal from Bangkok?s Suvarnabhumi Airport in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 6.

She said her passport was confiscated at the airport even though she possessed the necessary travel documents to travel on to Australia.

?I?m in real danger because the Saudi embassy trying to forcing [sic] me to go back to Saudi Arabia, while I?m at the airport waiting for my second flight,? she said in one of her first tweets...

...Human Rights Watch (HRW) has backed up Rahaf?s story.

The NGO?s deputy director for the Asia region, Phil Robertson, confirmed to Global News that he was in contact with Rahaf and believed her story is credible.


Speaking to Global News via text from an airport hotel room where she said she was being held, Rahaf said she fled the Middle East to get away from her abusive Saudi family.

She said she was subjected to beatings by male relatives, who at one point kept her locked up in her bedroom for six months because she cut her hair...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46777848

Rahaf al-Qunun: Thailand vows not to deport Saudi woman
6 minutes ago

Thailand's immigration police chief says a Saudi woman who fled her family at the weekend will be given temporary entry to the country.

Thai immigration officials had tried to return Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, to Kuwait, where her family is.

She refused to board a flight to Kuwait City on Monday, and barricaded herself into her hotel room at Bangkok airport.

The teenager said she believed her family would kill her if she went back because she had renounced Islam.

The Thai authorities said her status would be assessed by the UN refugee agency...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46806485

Rahaf al-Qunun: UN 'considers Saudi woman a refugee'

9 January 2019

A Saudi woman who fled her family and refused to leave a Bangkok hotel has been declared a legitimate refugee by the UN, the Australian government says.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, refused to board a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room.

She said she had renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

The UN's refugee agency has referred her case to Australia for possible resettlement...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...due-arrive-canada-asylum-190112054905094.html


'This is a brave new Canadian': Canada welcomes Rahaf Alqunun

The 18-year-old Saudi woman captured global attention this week when she fled her family and sought asylum.
3 hours ago

Rahaf Alqunun, the 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family saying she feared for her life, has landed in Canada, after being granted asylum in the North American country.

Alqunun was welcomed by Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland at Toronto's airport on Saturday.

"This is a very brave new Canadian," Freeland told reporters, with Alqunun standing by her side...