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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 8 January 2019

Saudi woman seeking asylum can stay temporarily in Thailand

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA lian lawmakers, Germany’s
AYA BATRAWY ambassador to Thailand
Associated Press and human rights agen-
BANGKOK (AP) — An cies, Thai officials agreed
18-year-old Saudi woman to allow U.N refugee offi-
who fled her family over cials to meet with her.
alleged abuse and bar- The office of the U.N. High
ricaded herself in a Bang- Commissioner for Refugees
kok airport hotel room in a said it expected to take at
desperate bid for asylum least 5-7 days to evaluate
will be allowed to stay in her case and claims, ac-
Thailand while her case is cording to Surachate, the
evaluated by the U.N. refu- Thai immigration police
gee agency, immigration chief.
authorities said Monday. Giuseppe De Vincentiis,
Rahaf Mohammed the UNHCR representative
Alqunun grabbed global in Thailand, told journal-
attention when she sent ists he did not know where
out pleas for help via social Alqunun would be staying
media, saying she feared but that she would be safe
for her life if she were put because she was under his
on a plane back to Kuwait, agency’s protection. UN-
where she had slipped HCR declined to release
away from her family, or any details of its meeting
her homeland. with her, but De Vincentiis
Instead, she has been al- noted “a good spirit of col-
lowed to enter Thailand In this photo released by the Immigration Bureau, Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, fore- laboration so far” with Thai
temporarily under the pro- ground walks by Chief of Immigration Police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, right, before leaving officials.
tection of the U.N. refugee the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. Surachate said Alqunun’s
agency, which was ex- Associated Press father was due to arrive
pected to take about five for help on her Twitter ac- When the man returned Her Twitter account attract- Monday night, and officials
to seven days to study her count. She later tweeted about an hour later with ed more than 66,000 fol- would see if she was willing
case and her claim for asy- that she feels safe under four or five other people, lowers in less than 48 hours to meet with him.
lum. She said she wants to U.N. protection and has they said they knew she and her story grabbed the “As of now, she does not
go to Australia to seek ref- gotten back her passport, had run away, that her attention of foreign gov- wish to go back and we
uge there. which had been taken family wanted her back, ernments and the U.N. will not force her. She won’t
“We will not send anyone from her earlier. and she should go home refugee agency. As the be sent anywhere tonight,”
to die. We will not do that. Alqunun’s ordeal began to Saudi Arabia. She was pressure grew, with con- Surachate said at a news
We will adhere to human when she fled from her sent to a hotel room, and cern expressed by Austra- conference.q
rights under the rule of family while in Kuwait and told she would be put on
law,” said Thai Immigration boarded a flight to Thai- a Monday morning flight to
Police chief Maj. Gen. Sura- land, apparently taking Kuwait.
chate Hakparn. advantage of being away She then went online, send-
Alqunun’s plight mirrors that from Saudi Arabia’s restric- ing out pleas for assistance
of other Saudi women who tions on women who can- over Twitter, and also bar-
in recent years have turned not travel abroad without a ricaded her hotel room
to social media to amplify man’s consent. door. Global attention was
their calls for help while try- Upon arriving at Bangkok’s sparked by social media
ing to flee abusive families Suvarnabhumi Airport on and she did not get on the
and other obstacles they Saturday night, she said she scheduled morning flight to
face in the conservative was met by a man whom Kuwait.
kingdom. she identified at various Alqunun wrote of being in
Photos released Monday times as either a Kuwait Air- “real danger” if forced to
night by immigration police ways employee or a Saudi return to her family in Saudi
showed Alqunun with Thai diplomat, who took her Arabia, and said in media
and U.N. officials after she passport and said he would interviews that she might
left the airport transit hotel help her gain entry to Thai- be killed. She told the BBC
room where she had been land. Saudi Arabia denies that she had renounced Is-
holed up over the week- its officials were involved in lam and was fearful of her
end, sending her pleas any way. father’s retaliation.