UNHCR Takes Charge Of Thailand Saudi Woman

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says it is “very grateful” that officials in Thailand did not deport an 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family at the weekend. 

Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun refused to board a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait on Monday and had barricaded herself into her airport hotel room. 

She said she feared her family would kill her as she had renounced Islam. 
Renunciation, known as apostasy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. 
She left Bangkok Airport “under the care” of the UNHCR. 

Thai immigration officials had said that she should return to Kuwait, where her family is. 

The UNHCR said that Mohammed Al-Qunun’s asylum claim would take “several days” to assess. 

Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Thailand has denied that its government in Riyadh requested her extradition.

Her relatives have not commented on her claims.