A Saudi teenager who fled her “abusive” family to seek asylum in Australia has been granted temporary accommodation in Thailand.
Thai immigration officials stopped her as she made her way to Australia on Sunday and she barricaded herself in a hotel room at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok for fear her family would kill her if she was sent back home.
Following a meeting with UN refugee agency workers from UNHCR, the 18-year-old has been told she is allowed to stay in Thailand “under their care” and will not be sent anywhere against her wishes.
She has since tweeted that her father, senior Saudi government official Mohammed Alqunun, has arrived in Bangkok.
Mr Alqunun is hoping to persuade his daughter to return to the kingdom with him, but she told her more than 55,000 followers that she was “scared” and “worried” about going back home.
“As of now, she does not wish to go back and we will not force her,” he said on Monday.
“She won’t be sent anywhere tonight. She fled hardship. Thailand is a land of smiles.
“We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law.”
That tweet has already been retweeted and shared thousands of times, with her pleas for asylum having brought international attention to the hardships facing millions of women in Saudi Arabia.
Under male guardianship laws, women must have the consent of a male relative – usually a father or husband – to travel, obtain a passport or marry.
In a similar case in 2017, Dina Ali Lasloom was stopped in the Philippines as she attempted to flee to Australia and was returned to Saudi Arabia, after which she was never heard from publicly.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said Ms Alqunun faced “grave harm” if she was forced to return to her home country.
He added: “Given Saudi Arabia’s long track record of looking the other way in so-called honour violence incidents, her worry that she could be killed if returned cannot be ignored.”
Saudi diplomats are due to meet with Maj Gen Surachate on Tuesday, when he said he would explain the decision to grant her temporary accommodation.
He told reporters that it would take around five days to consider her status and another five days to arrange for onward travel should she be granted refugee status in Australia.
An Australian government spokesman said the case was “deeply concerning” and embassy representatives in Bangkok have reached out to Thai authorities and the UNHCR to “seek assurances” that she will be able to access the “refugee status determination process”.
