An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled to Thailand saying she feared her family would kill her has refused to let her father and brother meet her, a Thai official said.
The teenager, Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, arrived in Bangkok on the weekend appealing for asylum.
The United Nations has asked Australia to consider refugee resettlement for her. Australia said it would consider resettling her if the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) deemed her a refugee.
She soon started posting messages on Twitter from the transit area of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport saying she had “escaped Kuwait” and her life would be in danger if forced to return to Saudi Arabia.
Within 36 hours it prompted Thailand’s government to reverse a decision to force the young woman onto a plane that would return her to her family.
