UN refugee agency workers in Bangkok have met with the Saudi teenager resisting attempts to be sent back home to her "abusive" family.

The representatives told Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun that she will remain in their custody and is now safe, as her father heads to Thailand to see if she is willing to return to the Arab kingdom with him.

Mohammed Alqunun from Ha'il province is a senior Saudi Arabian government official.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This is the person that Rahaf fears most.

"She is 18-years-old, and has a right to decide whether to meet him or not."


Thailand's immigration police chief has said Ms Alqunun will be granted entry to the country for evaluation by the UN refugee agency.

Image: Ms Alqunun is accompanied by police officers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok

Major General Surachate Hakparn said the agency would take at least five to seven days to evaluate her case.

Ms Alqunun barricaded herself in a hotel room at a Bangkok airport as she tried to flee her family on a trip to Kuwait.

Her passport has been seized by Thai authorities, and the 18-year-old says she fears her family will kill her if she is sent back to Saudi Arabia.

The teenager tweeted a video which shows her barricading her hotel door with a table and a mattress.

Ms Alqunun is seeking asylum in Australia and has been pleading for help on social media.

Image: The teenager has be granted entry in Thailand while the UN refugee agency evaluates her case

She told Human Rights Watch that she is fleeing abuse from her family, and alleges she had suffered beatings and death threats from male relatives who forced her to remain in her room for six months after she cut her hair.

Ms Alqunun has accumulated tens of thousands of followers on Twitter in about a day-and-a-half as she has posted updates from her Bangkok hotel room.

For runaway Saudi women, fleeing can be a matter of life and death.

Image: Ms Alqunun is greeted by Thai immigration authorities at a hotel inside Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok

Ms Alqunun's ordeal began on Saturday night after officials in Thailand stopped her in transit from Kuwait.

She was denied entry into the country by Thai immigration officials, who deny accusations that she was detained at the behest of the Saudi government.

Although Ms Alqunun was due to leave Bangkok and be returned to her family on a Kuwait Airways flight, Human Rights Watch has said that the plane has now departed without her on board.

The head of Thailand's immigration police said Ms Alqunun will not be sent anywhere against her wishes.

Major General Surachate Hakparn also said he would meet UN refugee officials to discuss allowing them to see her.

I’m not going to open the door I want UN pic.twitter.com/UTI3Dwsm3q — Rahaf Mohammed رهف محمد القنون (@rahaf84427714) January 7, 2019

He added that if Thai authorities decide not to send her back to Saudi Arabia, they would have to provide their reasons to Saudi authorities in order not to affect the countries' relations.

Late on Sunday, Ms Alqunun had warned: "My brothers and family and the Saudi embassy will be waiting for me in Kuwait.

"They will kill me. My life is in danger. My family threatens to kill me for the most trivial things."

Ms Alqunun has also claimed that her family has prevented her from continuing her education - and said she feels "oppressed" because she has not been allowed to drive or travel.

"I love life and work and I am very ambitious but my family is preventing me from living," she added.

https://t.co/T9TwMu1NM8 — Rahaf Mohammed رهف محمد القنون (@rahaf84427714) 6 January 2019

Lawyers in Thailand filed an injunction to prevent the teenager's deportation but it was rejected.

The NPS law firm said on Facebook that a Bangkok court turned the request down because there was not enough evidence and it was not clear who the teenager is.

Abdullah al Shuaibi, Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires in Bangkok, has denied the Gulf kingdom is involved in Ms Alqunun being held at the airport.

He was quoted in Saudi press saying that Ms Alqunun was stopped by Thai authorities because she did not appear to have a return ticket, a hotel reservation or itinerary to show she was a tourist.

Video from @rahaf84427714 just sent from her hotel room at the #Bangkok airport. She has barricaded herself in the room & says she will not leave until she is able to see #UNHCR. Why is #Thailand not letting @Refugees see her for refugee status determination? @hrw #SaveRahaf pic.twitter.com/3lb2NDRsVG — Phil Robertson (@Reaproy) January 7, 2019

Mr al Shuaibi said the Saudi Embassy has no authority to stop anyone at the airport and that this decision rests with Thai officials.

A UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman said: "UNHCR consistently advocates that refugees and asylum seekers - having been confirmed or claimed to be in need of international protection - cannot be returned to their countries of origin according to the principle of non-refoulement, which prevents states from expelling or returning persons to a territory where their life or freedom would be threatened.

"This principle is recognised as customary international law, and is also enshrined in Thailand's other treaty obligations."

Image: Ms Alqunun has said she fears her family in Saudi Arabia will kill her if she returns

Sarah Hanson-Young, a South Australian senator, said: "I've put in a number of calls into the government today, both department of foreign affairs and border protection, urging them to act very quickly to help bring a young Saudi woman who is currently detained in Bangkok airport to Australia.

"She's fleeing from a pretty abusive situation back home, a forced marriage, and she's denounced Islam which is a crime back home in Saudi Arabia.

"She has a visa, a current visa for visiting her in Australia but she doesn't have travel documents."

Saudi women have increasingly turned to social media to amplify their calls for help after running away from their families.

Dina Lasloom triggered a storm online in 2017 when she was stopped en route to Australia where she planned to seek asylum.

She was forced to return to Saudi Arabia and was not publicly heard from again, according to activists tracking her whereabouts.