BANGKOK, Jan 10 (TNA) – A young Saudi woman who has made
headlines for fleeing her family to Thailand could be granted asylum within
this week, a Thai official says.
After being detained in Thailand on Sunday, Rahaf Mohammmed
al-Qunun, 18, has now been in direct contact with the United Nation’s High
Commissioners for Refugees to seek asylum status citing physical and
psychological abuse by her family.
She has refused to meet her father and brother who have
arrived in Thailand.
Pol Lt-General Surachet Hakparn, acting Immigration Bureau
chief, said Wednesday that Rahaf al-Qunun and UNHCR officials had been in talks
with some undisclosed countries. She
could be able to travel to a country in two days, he said.
Her family had also held discussion with UNHCR officials to
offer their side of the story but after the teenager refused to meet them they returned
to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Pol Lt-General Surachet said.
Originally, Rahaf al-Qunun planned to travel to Australia
after fleeing her family during their trip to Kuwait. But she was briefly held at Bangkok’s
Suvarnabhumi Airport before being handed over to UNHCR.
Earlier, the UNHCR issued a statement saying that it required
five days to process Al-Qunun’s request.
During the standoff which became under international
spotlight, she expressed fears that she would be killed by her family if she was
deported back to Saudi Arabia.
Pol Lt-General Surachet also explained that the Thai
authorities detained Rahaf al-Qunun because she failed to present her return
air ticket and a place to stay in Thailand.
He noted that he had sent a warning letter to Kuwait Airways
for allowing the young woman to board the plane to Thailand without a return
flight ticket. (TNA)
