As authoritarian leader Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for almost 40 years, more than 3 million fled the country to South Africa and elsewhere for economic or political reasons. The family stuck in Bangkok says it left Zimbabwe when Mugabe was still in power and watched the dramatic events unfold there from abroad in recent months.

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In a move bearing all the hallmarks of a coup, Zimbabwe’s military took control of the country and of Mugabe himself in November. There had long been concerns about the health of the 93-year-old president and what would come next for the African country he has ruled since 1980. When Mugabe announced that he would resign after almost four decades as the country's leader, crowds poured into the streets of Zimbabwe.

Despite Mugabe's resignation, Thai immigration officials told the BBC, the family is refusing to fly back to Zimbabwe because of fear of prosecution, even though the country's new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has indicated that he would welcome the return of Zimbabwean refugees.

The family first arrived in Thailand in March on tourist visas, according to authorities there. Thailand offers on-arrival visas, which makes it relatively easy for asylum seekers to enter the country for a limited period. However, Thailand very seldom grants asylum to any refugees and offers no appropriate legal status.

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So the family was forced to explore other options to relocate to Europe. But because of the family's lack of visas, all attempts appear to have failed. Because the family members initially overstayed their Thai tourist visas, they are stuck in no man's land in the airport.

The United Nations refugee agency said it was working on a possible solution that would allow the family to relocate to a third country, but it did not indicate how long this process could take, according to AFP. Other cases of people stuck at international airports have taken years or even decades to resolve.

Meanwhile, Bangkok airport staff has been providing the family with food and beverages, and officials said the four adults and four children were not at risk. “They could travel to other countries that are willing to take them . . . We also offered to relocate them to our holding centre where there is childcare. But they refused. They are happy to stay here,” one immigration official told the BBC. The family has not publicly commented on the airport stay, and it remains unknown what options were offered to it.

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A number of people have been stuck at international airports in recent decades in cases that have drawn international attention. The case of Iranian citizen Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who was in diplomatic limbo at a Parisian airport for 18 years, for example, inspired the 2004 movie “The Terminal.”

More recently, American whistleblower Edward Snowden spent 40 days in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport while he was waiting to be granted asylum in Russia. At the time, his attorney Anatoly Kucherena compared Snowden's airport stay to “house arrest, only not at home,” and emphasized the psychological toll of being forced to stay indoors while in a legal limbo.