A Saudi woman who fled to Thailand saying she feared her family would kill her has been granted asylum in Canada and is travelling there on Friday.
Thai immigration chief told Reuter that
Canadian authorities said they could not confirm that Qunun had been granted asylum in Canada.
Qunun arrived in Bangkok on Saturday and was initially denied entry but after a tense 48-hour stand-off at Bangkok airport, some of it barricaded in a transit lounge hotel room, she was allowed to enter the country and has been processed as a refugee by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Qunun has accused her family of abuse, and has refused to meet her father and brother who arrived in Bangkok to try take her back to Saudi Arabia.
Her case has drawn 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 and girls as prisoners of abusive families.
Australia had said on Wednesday that it was considering taking in Qunun.
