An eighteen-year-old Saudi woman, Rahad Mohammed al-Qunun, made a plea for asylum after she landed at Bangkok’s international airport. According to Arab News, as of Monday al-Qunun is now currently “under the care: of the United Nations refugee agency.

Rahaf told AFP that she had run away from her family during a trip in Kuwait due to the physical and psychological abuse she had endured from them.

Image Credits: Screengrab

She wanted to seek asylum in Australia

During a transit in Bangkok en route Australia, the 18-year-old was stopped by Thai immigration officials due to her lack of documents.

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Thailand granted Qunin “to stay” after a meeting with UN refugee agency UNHCR, following her tweets announcing that Thailand “will not force her” to be deported.

The Saudi woman asked people on Twitter for different countries to help her situation which resulted in Thailand allowing her “stay in Thailand for a while, while seeking asylum to a third country.”

Securities were arranged to take care of Qunun as an additional extended reach apart from her being “under the care of the UNHCR.”

Qunun was stopped by Thai authorities for ‘violating the Thai law’

Qunun also took to Twitter to express that her passport had been taken by Saudi And Kuwaiti officials from her when she landed.

However, the charge d’affaires at the WSaudi embassy in Bangkok Abdulilah al-Shouaibi, says that a senior government official (Qunun’s father) called the diplomatic mission asking for ‘help’ to bring her back.

Shouaibi denied that her passport was taken or that embassy officials were inside the airport. The Saudi embassy in Bangkok released a Twitter statement said that Qunun had been stopped by the Thai authorities for “violating the Thai law.”

Some believe that since it’s a family matter, the government, most likely won’t intervene

Experts in Riyadh believe that the government might not respond further or intervene since the matter is one that is of a family matter, reports Arab News.

Currently, a spokesman for the UNHCR confirmed that the 18-year-old has “left the airport to a safe place in the city” and that its agency officials would interview her after a lengthy rest.

Reps from the Australian embassy in Bangkok have also contacted the Thai authorities and the UNHCR to “seek assurances” that Qunun will have access to the “refugee status determination process.”