Australia to consider asylum request after home affairs minister says she would not get ‘special treatment’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been found to be a refugee by the United Nations, and the Australian government will now consider her asylum request, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

The 18-year-old woman barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room on Sunday to prevent her forcible return to Saudi Arabia, where she claims her family will kill her because she has renounced Islam.

On Wednesday, the UN high commissioner for refugees assessed Qunun, found her to be a refugee and referred her to Australia for resettlement.

The Department of Home Affairs said it “will consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals”.

A UNHCR spokeswoman told the Guardian that Qunun would remain in their care until a long-term solution has been found. “She remains in a safe location in Bangkok for the time being,” she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Australia’s home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, had warned there will be “no special treatment” for Qunun, despite a groundswell of support for the woman.

The Australian director of Human Rights Watch Australia, Elaine Pearson, said the Australian government should “act quickly” to bring her safely to Australia.

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“She is a young Saudi woman whose face has been plastered around the world,” Pearson said. “She’s more at risk than other refugees, not just from her family but threats she has faced online and from her own government.

“We all know what the Saudi government is capable of doing on foreign soil. I would hope that, once her claim has been assessed, the Australian government will act quickly to get her out of Thailand and to safety.”

The Australian government previously said it would carefully consider granting a visa to Qunun if she is found to be a refugee by the United Nations. Her friends said on Tuesday that Australia had cancelled the tourist visa she was travelling on.

Qunun was detained on arrival at Bangkok and denied entry to Thailand while en route to Australia, where she said she intended to seek asylum.

The Australian Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, has called on the government to show moral leadership and act quickly to offer Qunun sanctuary. “It is time to bring this courageous young woman to Australia to start her life as a free woman,” she said.

A group called the Secret Sisterhood has set up a GoFundMe page to raise cash for Qunun once she is resettled in another country.

• Jamie Fullerton and Australian Associated Press contributed to this report