The Australian government will consider any application for asylum lodged by Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, a fugitive Saudi woman in Thailand, it says.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun is escorted to a vehicle by a Thai immigration officer and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees officials. Photo: AFP / STR
The 18-year-old barricaded herself in a room at an airport hotel in Bangkok, saying she had renounced Islam and her life was in danger from her family in Kuwait.
She left the room yesterday after the United Nations refugee agency offered her protection and agreed to take over her case from Thai authorities, which had initially tried to have her returned to her family.
She has reiterated her plea for asylum in Canada, the United States, Australia or the UK and is now staying at a Thai government shelter while the UN refugee agency assesses her case.
Women in Saudi Arabia are subject to male guardianship laws, which mean they need a male relative's permission to work, travel, marry, open a bank account, or even leave prison.
Freedom of religion is not legally protected in the kingdom. People who convert to another religion from Islam risk being charged with apostasy - or abandoning their religious beliefs, which is legally punishable by death.
Ms Mohammed al-Qunun is now staying at a Thai government shelter while the UN refugee agency assesses her case.
She says her passport has now been returned to her, after it was reportedly seized by a Saudi diplomat when she flew into Thailand.
Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's twitter account later quoted a Saudi diplomat in Bangkok saying it would have been better to take her phone than her passport. She said access to twitter had "changed the game" in what was wished for her.
Noura, one of four friends tweeting from Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's account, told the BBC they knew each other from an online group for Saudi feminists, and that she herself had "escaped" Saudi Arabia because she is "an ex-Muslim".
Saudi Arabia charge d’affaires in Bangkok Mr. Alshuaibi
— Rahaf Mohammed رهف محمد القنون (@rahaf84427714) January 8, 2019
said “they should have took her phone instead of her passport”
Twitter account has changed the game against what he wished for me
Original video was taken from @djboych9 pic.twitter.com/LylDuuwXop
Asylum process
The UN agency said it was "very grateful" that officials in Thailand had not deported her but her asylum claim would take "several days" to assess.
The Australian government said it was "pleased" the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) was assessing her claim.
"Any application by Ms al-Qunun for a humanitarian visa will be carefully considered once the UNHCR process has concluded," a Department of Home Affairs official told AFP news agency.
Thailand is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and provides no legal protection to asylum seekers, although there are more than 100,000 refugees in the country.
An injunction filed by Thai lawyers in Bangkok criminal court to stop the deportation was dismissed earlier on Monday.
On Monday evening local time, Thailand's chief of immigration police, Surachate Hakparn, said the country would "take care of her as best we can".
"She is now under the sovereignty of Thailand; no-one and no embassy can force her to go anywhere," he said.
"Thailand is a land of smiles. We will not send anyone to die."
Thai immigration chief Surachet Hakparn speaks outside the Saudi embassy after a meeting with Saudi officials in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: AFP / Lillian Suwanrumpha
Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's case echoes that of another Saudi woman who was in transit to Australia in April 2017.
Dina Ali Lasloom, 24, was en route from Kuwait via the Philippines but was taken back to Saudi Arabia from Manila airport by her family.
She used a Canadian tourist's phone to send a message, a video of which was posted to Twitter, saying her family would kill her.
Her fate on arriving back in Saudi Arabia remains unknown.
- BBC / RNZ
