Saudi Teen Given Refugee Status, Australia Considering Visa for Her **UPDATE**

Update: 13 Jan 2019 - Last night, Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun arrived in Toronto having been granted an emergency visa at the request of the UN. She will have the opportunity to quickly acclimatize to Canadian winters as there is nothing but snow and freezing temperatures in Toronto's forecast. It is not known where she will end up living. 

Welcome to Canada Rahaf. God bless you and keep you safe.


Original story:

This is the third story in as many days for this bright, courageous, young woman. The first is here, the 2nd here, and there is another tragic story of another young woman who attempted to escape the lunacy of Saudi Arabia's version of Islam. Her story puts this one into context.

By Clyde Hughes

Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun (C) walks with Thai Immigration Police Chief Surachet Hakparn (R) at a transit hotel inside Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday. Photo by Thai Immigration Bureau/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- A Saudi woman who fought deportation from Bangkok back to her family by barricading herself in a hotel room was granted refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency Wednesday, authorities said.

The status will allow Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun, 18, to apply for asylum in another country, the New York Times reported. She had hoped to travel to Australia where she has friends before she was detained at the Bangkok airport this past weekend and threatened with deportation.

The teenager told officials that she has renounced Islam and feared that her family and relatives would kill her if she returned. She escaped from her family on a flight while they vacationed in Kuwait.

She refused to leave her room during a two-day standoff where she used social media to plea for help, demanding that she meet with U.N. officials. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee representatives were allowed to process a claim for refugee status.

Local Thai media reported that Al-qunun's father traveled to Bangkok and met with refugee agency officials, but was told that his daughter refused to see him.

Australia's Department of Home Affairs said Wednesday that the United Nations had referred Al-qunun's case to their country for refugee settlement.

South Australia Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young urged Australian officials to welcome the teenager.

"Australian Government should work now with the U.N. refugee agency to offer young Saudi woman Rahaf Alqunun safety in Australia," Hanson-Young wrote on Twitter. "Offering her sanctuary and the chance to live free of discrimination in a country that respects women & girls is the right thing to do."

Australian officials said that they would consider issuing Al-qunun a humanitarian visa if the UNHCR gave her refugee status.

"Pending the outcome of that, if she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa," Australia's Health Minister Greg Hunt said, The Guardian reported.

Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch, said that Australia should come to Al-qunun's defense on moral grounds.

"Foreign governments, including Australia, that are concerned about human rights should be doubling down and offering support," Pearson said. "The government has said that promoting women's rights is a priority as part of its foreign policy; well here's a concrete case where they can protect a young woman's life, and the government should be seizing that opportunity and making its views widely known."

‘Under UN’s Care’: Saudi Woman ‘Rescued’ from Deportation After Social Media Storm

Rahaf may just be better off than her predecessors

who have been violently repatriated and then disappeared

See link at bottom of story

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun leaves Bangkok airport with UN officials and Thai immigration officers.

© Thai Immigration Bureau / AFP

The UN is examining the asylum appeal of a young Saudi woman who fled her family and is afraid of getting killed if sent home. She earlier barricaded herself in a Thai hotel room, refusing to leave until the UN intervened.

It will take the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) “several days” to determine whether Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, needs international protection, the organization’s representative in Thailand said. The woman earlier claimed asylum, fearing that she will be killed if expelled to her home country. UNHCR staff is expected to continue interviewing her on Tuesday.

A student at the University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia, al-Qunun fled her family during a holiday trip to Kuwait. She was planning to seek asylum in Australia but was intercepted at an airport transit zone in Bangkok. She claimed that a Saudi diplomat seized her passport and tickets as part of a plot to forcefully return her to Kuwait on the next flight.

Al-Qunun then barricaded herself inside an airport’s hotel room, refusing to come out until she was granted a meeting with UN officials.

Renouncing Islam

In a series of emotional posts and videos on social media, she said that she escaped from abusive relatives and fears for her life because she had publicly renounced Islam. Leaving Islam is illegal in Saudi Arabia and punishable by death.

“They will kill me,” she said. “My life is in danger.”

She was fleeing psychological and physical abuse by her male relatives, in particular her father and her brother.

She had cut her hair and then been confined to her room for almost six months. She very clearly stated that she was unhappy with Islam. She was unhappy having to wear the hijab and being forced to pray. She was very unhappy being told that she couldn't study the things she wanted to study or she wouldn't be able to work in the way she want to work.

She was having her life interfered in every possible way by conservative men who were telling her that she could do this and couldn't do that, and when she tried to defy them and showed any independence, you know, she suffered abuse. 

She was remarkably consistent in talking to us and talking to others in saying that she thought she would be killed if she was sent back to Saudi Arabia.

Her father is a senior government official in a provincial administration. This is someone, I think, who would be able to treat his family any way he wants and would basically benefit from impunity because of his position, his stature, his influence.

What we have found in Saudi Arabia is a complete failure by Saudi Arabia to effectively investigate and prosecute honour-related violence, i.e. violence against women and girls when they do something that the men believe brings the family's honour into disrepute.

She is 18 years old, she's considered adult by international law.  - CBC

Rahaf’s posts immediately caused outcry on social media and attracted a flurry of responses. They were quickly shared online as Twitter users appealed to the UN and world leaders to rescue the trapped teen.

In her pleas online, the young woman specifically asked for asylum in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. Thai immigration police initially indicated that she had to be sent back to Kuwait. But as her desperate calls for help quickly attracted human rights campaigners and UN refugee staffers intervened, they promised not to deport her.

“We will take her into Bangkok and provide her with safe shelter under the care of the UNHCR,” Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told reporters on Monday after UN officials escorted her out of the hotel.

Riyadh denied that it had ever planned on apprehending al-Qunun and bringing her back, calling the case a “family matter.” Al-Qunun’s father and brother arrived in Bangkok seeking a talk with her. Thai immigration services said that such a meeting is possible only with approval from UN personnel.

After leaving the airport, al-Qunun reiterated that she would like to seek asylum in Canada. Ottawa didn’t issue any official response. However, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director with Human Rights Watch, revealed that Canada “really worked very hard” to “persuade” Thailand not to expel her.

I suspect she doesn't know how cold our winters are here in Canada, or she would aim for Australia. Nevertheless, we would love to have her; I'm just not sure how good we would be at keeping her safe from her family. We invite ISIS veterans to return home to Canada with full rights.

At the same time, Australian media has reported that the government in Canberra will be ready to take in al-Qunun if the UN verifies her claims. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young had earlier urged the prime minister to issue emergency travel documents for the Saudi woman and admit her into the country.

If she is returned, violently to Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait, rest assured that she will suffer for bringing dishonour to her family, and for renouncing Islam. She would certainly not be the first to suffer such a fate.

Saudi Woman Barricades Herself in Thai Hotel Fearing Relatives Will Kill Her at Home

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun © rahaf84427714 / Twitter

A young Saudi woman has barricaded herself into a hotel in Thailand, saying that she has fled from abusive relatives and will be killed if sent back home. Her claims have caught the attention of human rights campaigners.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, a Saudi national, says she intended to seek asylum in Australia but a representative from the Saudi Embassy seized her passport in Bangkok airport on Sunday.

She has barricaded herself in a hotel room in the airport’s transit zone out of fear that she will be deported to her home country. Thai immigration officials initially indicated that the woman would be sent back on Monday, but later clarified that she wouldn’t be deported immediately, citing safety reasons.

“If deporting her would result in her death, we definitely wouldn’t want to do that,” immigration chief Surachet Hakparn noted.

Al-Qunun’s lawyers, meanwhile, said that an injunction calling for deportation procedures to be blocked was rejected in court. The legal team is planning to appeal the decision.

In a video shared on social media, al-Qunun said that she will not leave the room until she has a meeting with UN officials.

The woman told human rights campaigners she had escaped from physical and psychological abuse that she suffers at the hands of her relatives. She managed to flee during her family’s visit to Kuwait, which, unlike Saudi Arabia, doesn’t require a male relative’s approval for a woman to leave the country. Al-Qunun now fears that she will be jailed upon returning home or even killed.

“My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair,” al-Qunun told AFP.

“I'm sure 100 percent they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail.”

Human Rights Watch appealed to Bangkok to halt the woman’s planned deportation. The organization’s Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson blasted the Thai authorities for their “heartless lack of concern” for al-Qunun’s wellbeing.

The woman’s pleas also caught the attention of Georg Schmidt, the German ambassador to the nation. He wrote that he would stay “in touch” with local officials concerning al-Qunun’s fate.