BANGKOK, Jan 8 (TNA) – An 18-year-old Saudi woman who has
fled her family and homeland is now under the care of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) and she is applying for asylum through the
UN’s refugee body, according to a Thai official.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Rahaf Mohammed Mutlaq
Alqunun and the UNHCR official on Monday, Thailand’s Immigration Bureau
Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn denied the report that the Thai
immigration police had detained the woman pending her deportation.
“The immigration police denied entry for Rahaf Mohammed
because she did not have an immigration document, did not reserve a hotel room
and did not buy a return flight ticket”, he noted.
Rahaf Mohammed fled to Thailand to avoid harsh punishment
for escaping from a marriage in Saudi Arabia, he said. Thai officials convinced
her to buy an air ticket to Kuwait but later she did not board the flight.
It was reported that her family had her visa to Thailand
revoked and she was too young to apply for another visa by herself.
The Saudi woman told her story and situation via Twitter,
writing she arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport at 9.30pm on Jan 5 but she could
not board another flight to Australia as planned because Saudi officials seized
her passport at Suvarnabhumi airport.
She also wrote that her family had locked her in a room for
six months for having her hair cut. Besides, her elder brother had assaulted
her and her family was upset for her decision to stop believing in Islam.(TNA)
