8-year-old woman Rahaf Mohammed al- Qunun has accused her family of being abusive, and therefore, hoped to seek asylum in Australia.
An 18-year-old woman Rahaf Mohammed al- Qunun, who fled from Kuwait to seek asylum elsewhere, has appealed to the government of Thailand to stall her deportation to Kuwait.
The teenager accused her family of being abusive, and therefore, hoped to seek asylum in Australia.
"I ask the government of Thailand according to the non-refoulement principle to stop my deportation to Kuwait. I ask the police in Thailand to start my asylum process according to the non-refoulement principle," she tweeted.
She has barricaded herself inside her transit hotel room at Bangkok airport to avoid being sent home by Thai authorities, a rights group said on Monday. Rahaf was scheduled to be sent on a Kuwait Airways flight to Kuwait City, where her family is, on Monday morning.
"She has barricaded herself in the room & says she will not leave" until she is allowed to meet the UN refugee agency and claim asylum, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said on Twitter. Qunun was refused entry on Saturday by Thai immigration officials. Thai authorities deny acting at the request of the Saudi government and say she did not have the correct documents for a visa on arrival.
As per a New York Times article, Alqunun boarded a plane to Thailand while her family was on a holiday in Kuwait. Upon arriving in Thailand, she claimed that her passport was taken away by a man at the airport on the pretext of getting her a Thai visa. However, the man did not show up, she said.
Furthermore, the 18-year-old alleged that the man who took away her passport came with other men who she believes were Thai security officers and a representative of Kuwait Airlines. The men reportedly told Alqunun that her family had filed a missing person report about her and informed her that she had to return to Kuwait on a flight late Monday morning.
Rahaf also clarified that she did not run away from home in order to escape her marriage.
"It is not true that I escaped because of forced marriage, this never happened. I think my family has no good lies. I explained my reasons and my story to foreign newspapers," read another tweet.
(With agencies)
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