Thai police say they won’t deport Saudi woman seeking asylum

BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Thailand’s immigration police said Monday that a young Saudi woman who was stopped in Bangkok as she was trying to travel to Australia for asylum to escape alleged abuse by her family will not be sent anywhere against her wishes.

Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun remained barricaded in an airport hotel room while sending out desperate pleas for help over social media.

The 18-year-old began posting on Twitter late Saturday after her passport was taken away when she arrived in the Thai capital on a flight from Kuwait.

She has been appealing for aid from the United Nations refugee agency and anyone else who can help.

The refugee agency announced Monday evening that Thai authorities had allowed its officials to meet with Alqunun, but declined to give any details of their meeting, citing confidentiality.

Earlier in the day, Thailand’s immigration police chief, Major General Surachate Hakparn said Alqunun’s father would arrive Monday night, and that officials would see if the young woman was willing to depart with him.

“As of now, she does not wish to go back and we will not force her. She won’t be sent anywhere tonight,” Surachate said at a news conference at the airport where Alqunun is stuck.

“She fled hardship. Thailand is a land of smiles,” he said.

“We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law.”

On Twitter, Alqunun wrote of being in “real danger” if forced to return to her family in Saudi Arabia, and has claimed in media interviews that she could be killed.

She told the BBC that she had renounced Islam and is fearful of her father’s retaliation.

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