Saudi woman, 18, barricades self in Thai hotel to avoid being sent home

 

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, a Saudi woman who claims to be fleeing her country and family, speaks in a room in Bangkok, Thailand, January 6, 2019, in this still image taken from a video obtained from social media. @rahaf84427714/via REUTERS

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - An 18-year-old Saudi woman who says she is fleeing family abuse barricaded herself inside her transit hotel room at Bangkok airport to avoid being sent home by Thai authorities, a rights group said on Monday.

 

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun was scheduled to be sent on a Kuwait Airways flight to Kuwait City, where her family is, on Monday morning.

 

"She has barricaded herself in the room & says she will not leave" until she is allowed to meet the U.N. refugee agency and claim asylum, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said on Twitter.

 

Qunun was refused entry on Saturday by Thai immigration officials. Thai authorities deny acting at the request of the Saudi government and say she did not have the correct documents for a visa on arrival.

 

(Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-07

THis is totally outrageous, especially given the recent history of Saudi behaviour at the Istanbul embassy.

 

This frightened young girl only wants freedom and should be afforded protection in any civil society. <deleted> she has a visa for Australia. Why not let her transit? KSA officials obviously buying favours!

Can't say I blame her, the BBC reports she says she has renounced Islam.

 

That does not go down well in Saudi.

 

If she has a visa for Australia let her go there.

 

Mystified as to why thai immigration stopped her as she was in transit to Australia, again according to the BBC report, and not attempting to enter Thailand, when she landed in Bangkok.

2 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Can't say I blame her, the BBC reports she says she has renounced Islam.

 

That does not go down well in Saudi.

It represents a crime called apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi.

2 hours ago, Tradewind777 said:

<deleted> she has a visa for Australia. Why not let her transit?

No passport?

I see a movie deal and a book coming...

9 minutes ago, RickBradford said:

It represents a crime called apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi.

I know.

7 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

No passport?

 

According to the Saudi Embassy/Consulate she does have her passport with her.

17 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

If she has a visa for Australia let her go there.

She does not. But Thai authorities should allow her to go to Australian embassy. This is outrageous. I hope UN human rights Asia director intervenes on her behalf and humanity's behalf. Western countries should also start pressuring Thai government. 

4 minutes ago, Bert got kinky said:

 

According to the Saudi Embassy/Consulate she does have her passport with her.

Ok. I read on the other topic that:

 

Quote

A young Saudi woman says she is stranded at Bangkok's main airport after fleeing her family and having her passport seized by a Saudi official.

Perhaps they gave it back to her.

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thai authorities deny acting at the request of the Saudi government and say she did not have the correct documents for a visa on arrival.

Stupid TI does not understand she is seeking asylum. Take her to the Australian embassy. Let people who have brains decide instead of TI's who only knows how to follow orders. 

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by onera1961

Things look pretty grim for her right now. Thailand is clearly kowtowing to the Saudis, which given their record of abuses is a terrible thing to do. The cat is out of the bag now though, so one can only hope that world pressure will force them to back down and allow her to go where she intended and can hopefully live a decent life. All that awaits her back home is abject misery and probably death.

The plane to Kuwait left this morning without her.  There are flights from Thailand to Australia this evening.

 

She's locked in a hotel room with probably no food, but access to water from the bathroom tap.

 

This situation needs to be resolved this afternoon.  IMHO, the Australian Ambassador to Thailand should personally escort her from the hotel room and put her on the flight to Australia, where she can apply for asylum and that case be decided on its merits.

Brave girl, I really hope the international community can stand up. But of course, not if you want to loose business relations with the Saudis...

29 minutes ago, RickBradford said:

It represents a crime called apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi.

However, it does not seem to trouble the Thai authorities too much

Saudi is a powder keg. Also on the BBC and Youtube. 

 

 

 

 

I have sent an email to the Australian embassy in Bangkok, asking them to send an official to the airport, and to escort her onto the flight to Australia that leaves this evening.  Upon arrival in Oz, she can then go through the stipulated procedures to apply for asylum, and her case can be considered with due legal process.

 

The embassy email address is [email protected]  

given its thai authoritys that will deal with her who probably have no clue what Saudi Arabia is known to do with women like her.. i dont see a happy end here ????

They'll definitely do that for you Simon.

 

If none of us speak up........ etc etc

48 minutes ago, RickBradford said:

It represents a crime called apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi.

Oh, come one, since when have Muslims ever persecuted and killed anybody that did not believe in Islam ? 

I suppose the Thai authorities were bound to act because of some international agreement or other, but it seems to me and many others as if they interfered in matters which were of no concern to Thailand.

 

If she is sent back, Thailand will be heavily criticized.  If she is allowed to travel that will be a further to blow to already strained Thai/Saudi relations.

 

She should not be locked up in a hotel room because she has done absolutely nothing wrong.

 

If the media spotlight were not on Thailand, she would just be sent back without thought to the consequences, or dumped in a detention centre to suffer inhumane conditions.

 

 

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by mommysboy

When Canada protested the Saudis treatment of women months ago, and the rest of world went silent, Saudi knew they were beyond reproach. When that reporters blood ran in that slaughterhouse in Turkey, and business continued as usual, the Saudi's knew they could literally get away with murder. Thailand can choose the easy way or the moral way here, and the easy way will essentially pave the way for this girl's throat to be cut like a goat. 

 

16 minutes ago, onera1961 said:

Stupid TI does not understand she is seeking asylum. Take her to the Australian embassy. Let people who have brains decide instead of TI's who only knows how to follow orders. 

A bit over the top since we really don't know all that's involved or on-going. Repeatedly calling Thai immigrations stupid and brainless or suggesting that Thai immigration officers should go rogue and cease to follow orders isn't likely to lead to a resolution of the situation.

 

Obviously if she's being allowed to remain in the hotel room someone has decided to take some time to see what can be done.  I doubt a woman refusing to leave her room and supposedly barricading herself in would actually mean there would be no way to remove her if they wanted to forcibly put her on a plane bank to Saudi. If she was refused entry to Thailand and allowed to check-in to the hotel she's been allowed some freedom of movement.

 

I hope she is afforded safe sanctuary somewhere, but the main source of her problems isn't Thai immigrations. If she publicly renounced Islam before she was in a safer situation, that didn't demonstrate a great deal of sense on her part. It just added fuel to the flames.

 

 

It is sad I hope the Thai Government does the humane thing.

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

No passport?

Saudi government offficials stole passport so she could not leave Thailand.  These officials were allowed into thai official only areas so they could make the grab for her bag and passport.

9 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

When Canada protested the Saudis treatment of women months ago, and the rest of world went silent, Saudi knew they were beyond reproach. When that reporters blood ran in that slaughterhouse in Turkey, and business continued as usual, the Saudi's knew they could literally get away with murder. Thailand can choose the easy way or the moral way here, and the easy way will essentially pave the way for this girl's throat to be cut like a goat. 

 

One of Canada's finest hours. Pathetic responces from the other so called liberal democracies. 

beware of Saudis carrying bone saws

I work in Dubai. Over the years the UAE government have applied for many extradition orders for UK citizens to be shipped back to the UAE for trial. Mainly these are financial. 

 

Anyway, not one has ever happened. A judge in the UK won't approve it. Why?

 

Human rights abuse. The Emaratis are angels compared to the Saudis. 

 

The Thais need to be strong. 

13 minutes ago, flewis25200 said:

It is sad I hope the Thai Government does the humane thing.

Isn't the head of Thai Immigration nicknamed Big Joke? I don't like her chances to be honest.

"Qunun was refused entry on Saturday by Thai immigration officials. Thai authorities deny acting at the request of the Saudi government and say she did not have the correct documents for a visa on arrival."

 

I could be wrong, but if she has a connecting flight to Australia, then there is no need for her to pass through immigration in Thailand, right? And if she doesn't pass through immigration, that means she's 'not in Thailand' and is therefore not subject to Thai laws, no? If the above is true, then she has no need for visa on arrival - in which case, Big Joke and the Thai gits are bullshitting and plainly meddling, potentially at the cost of a human life.