A SAUDI Arabian teenager who fled her “abusive” family has emerged from her barricaded Thai hotel room as authorities promise not to deport her.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, ran away from her relatives while they were on a trip to Kuwait three days ago.

The teen, who has been at Bangkok's international airport since Saturday, says she fears her family will kill her if she is forced to return home.

But after her talks with the United Nations refugee agency, Rahaf has now emerged from her hotel room and left the travel hub, an official said on Monday.

Her relatives have not commented on her accusations of abuse and Reuters was not able to reach them.

The case has drawn new global attention to Saudi Arabia's strict social rules, including a requirement that women have the permission of a male "guardian" to travel, which rights groups say can trap women as prisoners of abusive families.

A representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rahaf at the airport and also discussed the case with Thai immigration officials.

After the meeting, Thailand's immigration chief said she would not be expelled.

"We will take her into Bangkok and provide her with safe shelter under the care of the UNHCR," immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told reporters on Monday evening.

He said the UNHCR would work on processing Rahaf’s request for refugee status.

Giuseppe de Vincentis, the UNHCR representative in Thailand, said the Thai government had given assurances Rahaf would not be expelled to any country where she might be in danger while her case was being processed.

Rahaf posted a video on Twitter on Monday of her barricading her hotel door with a table and a mattress.

She said her family was powerful in Saudi society but she did not identify them.

Asked why she was seeking refuge in Australia, she told Reuters: "Physical, emotional and verbal abuse and being imprisoned inside the house for months.

“They threaten to kill me and prevent me from continuing my education.

"They won't let me drive or travel. I am oppressed. I love life and work and I am very ambitious but my family is preventing me from living."

The Saudi foreign ministry said in a tweet that its embassy was in touch with the woman's father and the Thai government, but its diplomats had not met or communicated with her.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Thailand should not send Rahaf back to her family because she says she faces danger.

Previously, the 18-year-old tried to flee to Australia via Bangkok in hope of seeking asylum – but she was chased by Saudi officials who seized her passport.

Rahaf said she was detained after leaving her plane in Bangkok and told she would be sent back to Kuwait.

She told news service Reuters last night: "My brothers and family and the Saudi embassy will be waiting for me in Kuwait.

"They will kill me. My life is in danger. My family threatens to kill me for the most trivial things."

A video showed her in the Thai airport's Miracle Transit Hotel apparently being ushered by security – while another recorded her begging for asylum.

Explaining her fear in a series of now-viral tweets, Rahaf said: "My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair.

"I'm sure 100 per cent they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail," adding she is "scared and losing hope".

Her passport was taken after a relative is said to have reported her for travelling without the company of a male guardian.

She added: "I have been threatened by several staff from the Saudi embassy and the Kuwaiti airlines, and they said, 'If you run, we will find you and kidnap you, then deal with you'.

"I really don't know how they are going to behave in case I run."

Rahaf also shared a tweet that she claimed was from her cousin in which she is threatened with being "slaughtered".

Her father, a government official, contacted Saudi officials in Thailand asking for their "help" in getting her back – but Rahaf claims he told them she was mentally ill.

Thailand officials said she will today be deported to Saudi Arabia – where renouncing Islam is punishable by death.

Thailand's immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said: "Rahaf Mohammed M Alqunun ran away from her family to avoid marriage and she is concerned she may be in trouble returning to Saudi Arabia," before adding, "It's a family problem".

Gen Surachate told the BBC he was unaware of any passport seizure.

Rahaf has denied that she ran away from home to avoid getting married – and claimed she was tricked into handing over her passport by airport security working on behalf of the Saudis.

Thai immigration authorities denied Rahaf's allegations they were acting at the behest of the Saudi government.

Officials said she was refused entry to Thailand on Saturday night because she did not have the proper documents for a visa on arrival.

Rahaf said she had obtained an Australian visa and booked a flight.

She said she planned to spend a few days in Thailand, a popular destination for medical treatment, so she would not spark suspicion when she left Kuwait.

She said: "When I landed at the airport, someone came and said he would process the (Thai) visa but he took my passport.

"He came back with what seemed to be airport security and said that my parents objected and said I must return to Saudi Arabia via Kuwait Airways."

Rahaf added she believed she was stopped after her family appealed to Kuwait Airways.

A spokesman for Kuwait Airways said he had no information about the case.

Rahaf's situation has chilling echoes of Princess Latifa of Dubai's ordeal which saw the Gulf state royal who vanished in mysterious circumstances in March amid reports that she was seized by commandos as she crossed the Indian Ocean on a yacht.

She was said to have fled the emirate on a boat skippered by a former French intelligence officer named Hervé Jaubert.

MOST READ NEWS

During the escape she was accompanied by her close friend, a Finnish martial arts instructor, Tiina Jauhiainen.

Nothing was heard from the princess until Irish politician Mary Robinson was pictured visiting Latifa in Dubai in December.

Her account has apparently since been taken over by trusted pals to continue her fight for asylum.

Her case comes after Saudi Arabia was blamed for the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October.

Source: Read Full Article