Thailand vows to protect Saudi teenager who has barricaded herself in hotel room in fear she ‘could be killed’ if sent home
A Saudi teenager who says she is fleeing abuse by her family and wants asylum in Australia has barricaded herself in a Thailand hotel as she sent out pleas for help over social media.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun began posting on Twitter on Saturday after her passport was taken away when she arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait.
The 18-year-old has been appealing for aid from the United Nations refugee agency and anyone else who can help.
On Monday, Thai authorities vowed not to deport the teenager and said she will be given temporary entry to the country.
Her status will be assessed by the UN refugee agency.
Thailand’s chief of immigration police Surachate Hakparn said the country would “protect her as best we can”.
He added: “She is now under the sovereignty of Thailand, no one and no embassy can force her to go anywhere.
“We will talk to her and do whatever she requests.
“Since she escaped trouble to seek our help… we will not send anyone to their death.”
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a statement saying it was following the case and “trying to seek access from the Thai authorities” to meet the woman to assess her need for international protection.
On Twitter, where Ms Alqunun has accumulated tens of thousands of followers in about a day-and-a-half, she wrote of being in “real danger” if forced to return to her family under pressure from Saudi authorities. She has claimed in media interviews that she could be killed.
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She told Human Rights Watch she was fleeing abuse from her family, including beatings and death threats from her male relatives who she claimed had forced her to remain in her room for six months for cutting her hair.
For runaway Saudi women – to whom Saudi law grants male relatives legal guardianship even if they are adults – fleeing can be a matter of life and death.
“Thailand should allow UNHCR to have access to her. They should allow UNHCR to make a determination whether she is a refugee or not and abide by that,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
“Alternatively, Thailand could let her continue to Australia, give her back her passport and make sure she is able to go. She has a valid Australian visa. The key thing is she should not be sent back to Saudi Arabia, she should not be sent back into harm’s way”
Ms Alqunun appeared to have scored a small victory on Monday when the flight on which she said she would be sent to Kuwait departed without her.
Later, Germany’s ambassador to Thailand, Georg Schmidt, posted a message of concern on his verified Twitter account about her case, which he said he was conveying to Thai authorities.
The Associated Press reached Ms Alqunun by telephone on Sunday night in her hotel room and she claimed she was tricked into giving up her passport on her arrival in Bangkok.
“Someone told me he would help me get a visa for Thailand, so I can go inside,” she said. “After that he took my passport. After one hour he came with five or four persons and told me my family wants me. And they knew I had run away and should go back to Saudi Arabia.”
She identified the man who took her passport variously as a Kuwait Airways employee or a Saudi embassy official. She said Saudi and Thai officials then told her she would be returned to Kuwait on Monday, where her father and brother are awaiting her.
Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok Abdullah al-Shuaibi denied Saudi authorities were involved in any way.
He was quoted in Saudi press saying that Ms Alqunun was stopped by Thai authorities because she did not appear to have a return ticket, a hotel reservation or itinerary to show she was a tourist.
He said the Saudi embassy has no authority to stop anyone at the airport and that this decision rests with Thai officials.
