Father, brother of Saudi runaway due in Thailand

Father, brother of Saudi runaway due in Thailand

Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, left, and other senior immigration police officers meet Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires in Bangkok, Abdullah al-Shuaibi, to discuss 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun's case. (Supplied photo)
Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, left, and other senior immigration police officers meet Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires in Bangkok, Abdullah al-Shuaibi, to discuss 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun's case. (Supplied photo)

The father and an elder brother of a young Saudi woman seeking asylum in Australia were to arrive in Thailand Tuesday to give their side of the story to the UN refugee agency handling her case.

Immigration Bureau chief Surachate Hakparn on Tuesday said the two family members of 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun were due to arrive this evening, and he would arrange a meeting for them with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). 

The two family members might want the UNHCR to hear information from both sides to ensure justice in the case, he said, but it was Ms Qunum’s choice whether she wanted to meet her father and brother.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate insisted the case had nothing to do with politics or the government. Thailand was focused on the woman's safety, he said. The Thai government had not wanted to have the UN refugee agency handle the case, but had acceded to her wishes. 

Both Thailand and Saudi Arabia shared the view that the case was a personal issue that could only be resolved between the 18-year-old Saudi woman and her family, the immigration police commissioner said.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate spoke after he and other senior immigration police officers met with Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires in Bangkok, Abdullah al-Shuaibi, to discuss the drama that has grabbed worldwide media headlines.

Ms Qunun arrived at Bangkok’s main airport over the weekend on a flight from Kuwait. She said she was planning to claim asylum in Australia to escape from her family, who she alleged had subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.

Initially, Thai authorities said Ms Qunun would be sent back to Saudi Arabia. But after she barricaded herself in her hotel room and her plight pinballed across social media with a flurry of tweets pleading for intervention from foreign governments and the UN, they abruptly changed course and allowed her to leave the airport late Monday in UNHRC’s care.

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