Activists call on Australia, Britain to accept fleeing Saudi woman

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, foreground, walks by Chief of Immigration Police Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, right, before leaving Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Monday. (Immigration Police via AP photo)

Lawmakers and activists in Australia and Britain on Tuesday urged their governments to grant asylum to Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who was finally allowed by Thailand to enter the country late on Monday, after nearly 48 hours stranded at Bangkok airport under threat of being expelled.

Saudi Arabia's embassy in Thailand denied reports that Riyadh had requested her extradition.

Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told reporters that Ms Qunun's father and brother were due in Thailand later on Tuesday.

He said he would talk to the UN refugee agency about the potential of a meeting between the family members.

"Rahaf is not a political asylum case," he insisted. "It is not political at all."

The 18-year-old has said she had a visa to continue to Australia. The Thai immigration police chief disputed that, while some media reports said that she was given one, but the Australian government has now cancelled it.

Human Rights Watch's Australian director Elaine Pearson said that since Australia has expressed concern in the past about women's rights in Saudi Arabia, it should “come forward and offer protection for this young woman”.

Australia Director of Human Rights Watch @PearsonElaine: I think in these circumstances, there really is an urgent need for a country like Australia to step forward and say we will offer protection to this young woman.



MORE: https://t.co/FwlghCguS3 #Newsday pic.twitter.com/SprnBHOIAv — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) January 8, 2019

An Australian senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, called on her government through social media to issue Ms Qunun an emergency travel document so she could fly to Australia to seek asylum.

The Australian government said it was monitoring the case closely highlighting that "the claims made by Ms Qunun that she may be harmed if returned to Saudi Arabia are deeply concerning", said a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A woman in Britain has launched an online petition calling on Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to grant the teenage Saudi runaway asylum and issue her an emergency travel document.

Within hours of launching the petition it had secured thousands of signatures.

The person sharing many of the posts on Ms Qunun's Twitter feed was revealed to be a Saudi woman living in Australia who had also fled her native country.

Rahaf Alqunun gave a friend in Australia, @nourahfa313, access to her Twitter account to help get her message out. She's a young Saudi woman who told @abcbarbm she too fled the country. She says Rahaf wants to go to any safe country. LISTEN: https://t.co/n1Jla87o5d #abcPM pic.twitter.com/K1N4fMPytk — ABC News (@abcnews) January 8, 2019

(Reuters video)