Thread: Saudi woman 'trapped at Bangkok airport trying to flee family'

A young Saudi woman says she is stranded at Bangkok's main airport after fleeing her family and having her passport seized by a Saudi official.



Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, says she was on a trip to Kuwait with her family when she fled on a flight two days ago.

She was trying to head to Australia via a connecting flight in Bangkok.

She told the BBC that she had renounced Islam, and feared she would be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia and killed by her family.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says Ms Mohammed al-Qunun is frightened and confused. She says she has an Australian visa but her passport was seized by a Saudi diplomat when he met her coming off the flight at Suvarnabhumi airport.

A Saudi envoy in Bangkok denied any official Saudi involvement in Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's detention.

"The embassy does not have the authority to arrest (anyone) at the airport or elsewhere," Abdellilah al-Shaayibi told news website Sabq. "She was stopped by airport authorities because she violated Thai laws".

Thai police Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn told the BBC that Ms Mohammed al-Qunun was escaping a marriage. Because she did not have a visa to enter Thailand, he said police had denied her entry and were in the process of repatriating her through the same airline she had taken, Kuwait Airways, by Monday morning.

Gen Surachate said he was unaware of any passport seizure.

Meanwhile, Thailand's immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told AFP the case was a "family problem" and the teenager "had no further documents such as [a] return ticket or money".

However, Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson told the BBC: "It seems that the Thai government is manufacturing a story that she tried to apply for a visa and it was denied... in fact, she had an onward ticket to go to Australia, she didn't want to enter Thailand in the first place."

He argued that the Thai authorities had clearly co-operated with Saudi Arabia as Saudi officials were able to met the plane when it arrived.

Ms Mohammed al-Qunun told BBC Newshour she was now in a hotel in the transit area.

She said: "I shared my story and my pictures on social media and my father is so angry because I did this... I can't study and work in my country, so I want to be free and study and work as I want."

Ms Mohammed al-Qunun wrote on Twitter that she had decided to share her name and details because she had "nothing to lose" now.

She also shared a picture of her passport "because I want you to know I'm real and exist".

Another tweet read: "I'm afraid my family will kill me."

The case echoes that of another Saudi woman who was in transit to Australia in April 2017.

Dina Ali Lasloom, 24, was en route from Kuwait via the Philippines but was taken back to Saudi Arabia from Manila airport by her family.

She used a Canadian tourist's phone to send a message, a video of which was posted to Twitter, saying her family would kill her.

Her fate on arriving back in Saudi Arabia remains unknown.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46773625

How do some western expats justify working in these piece of shit countries?

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

How do some western expats justify working in these piece of shit countries?

Money. What else?

Originally Posted by happynz

Money. What else?

Yeah, I guess the same reason I justify living in Thailand where someone at immigration can just kidnap a woman with a valid visa and passport transiting the country.

Disgusting place this is.

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

Yeah, I guess the same reason I justify living in Thailand where someone at immigration can just kidnap a woman with a valid visa and passport transiting the country.

Disgusting place this is.

Fact is she got on the plane aided with a passport which she now doesn't have, suggesting her version of an immune person taking it from her is more likely to be true than a sudden urge to dispose of it and create a life threatening problem for herself.

Thailand was a good choice of venue, since such an operation requires a certain level of coercion/corruption and is more likely to bear fruit than in say UK or Europe.

I would guess not a direct order from MbS, this time, more likely official Saudi gov policy to kill those that dare to leave the fold. If repatriated, her family would be under tremendous pressures to do the honours and preserve the Kingdom's image as a just, tolerant and progressive society.

A Saudi envoy in Bangkok denied any official Saudi involvement in Ms Mohammed al-Qunun's detention.

Aside from the fact that this is almost certainly manufactured by the Thais, I've already mentioned that I have been transiting Swampy to go to Siem Reap or Ho Chi Minh and they insist that you go through Thai immigration before you go to the next gate, despite being in transit.

I've always assumed that this is their witless way of manufacturing fake tourist numbers, but this suggests it has other purposes, too.

She, her parents, and her six siblings live in Ha’il in Saudi Arabia, where her father works as a government official.

Which explains how he was able to pull strings. nasty little fuckers.3

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Aside from the fact that this is almost certainly manufactured by the Thais, I've already mentioned that I have been transiting Swampy to go to Siem Reap or Ho Chi Minh and they insist that you go through Thai immigration before you go to the next gate, despite being in transit.

I've always assumed that this is their witless way of manufacturing fake tourist numbers, but this suggests it has other purposes, too.

Same in US.

Originally Posted by Norton

Same in US.

I've never transited the US to go elsewhere, so I wouldn't know.

But I know you can clear US immigration in Canada and land "domestically" so to speak.

Having said that, the US doesn't trumpet (excuse the pun) its tourism numbers like Thailand does.

They can't even barter the jewels because they were the ones who stole the jewels in the first place>

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

They can't even barter the jewels because they were the ones who stole the jewels in the first place>

I'm sure someone will be getting new jewels with the cake tin they'll be getting to follow the wishes of the Custodians of the Two Holy Chequebooks.

Well it seems there are people fighting for her, as she didn't get on the morning bus to Kuwait City.

There is all sorts of shit going on according to this update:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...g-will-killed/

Originally Posted by jabir

I would guess not a direct order from MbS, this time...

Christ, you really are a nattering old fishwife aren't you.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

[sic].....insist that you go through immigration before you go to the next gate, despite being in transit.

A very common Int'l Airport practice the world over -

Originally Posted by HuangLao

A very common Int'l Airport practice the world over -

How the fuck would you know Jeff, you've hardly fucking been anywhere.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

A very common Int'l Airport practice the world over -

Common in US, for sure. I remember being buttplugged and fingered every time I transited through Chicago or NY from Thailand. This is why China Airlines is a fucking heaven/

I think a crowd funding page is required

Pay the police more than the Saudis are

A sexy panties photo or 2 from the chicky would be sure to top a million or 2

And bonus points if you can do a runner with the cash and buy TD

Ms al-Qunun [said] "that she was only in transit to seek asylum in Australia, where she claimed to have a visa".

I'd like to know what the visa was issued for because it is highly likely that the visa would be revoked by Australian authorities due to the change in her circumstances since the visa was issued. I very much doubt she was granted an "asylum visa".

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

How do some western expats justify working in these piece of shit countries?

Originally Posted by happynz

Money. What else?

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

Yeah, I guess the same reason I justify living in Thailand where someone at immigration can just kidnap a woman with a valid visa and passport transiting the country.

You've been loafing around in your wife's place in Ramkamhaeng for three years...for the money?

Originally Posted by Neverna

I very much doubt she was granted an "asylum visa".

Is there such a thing? Do keep up; she was issued a 3 month toursit visa. Upon arrival, she could then apply for refuge.

The Australian authorities should cancel her tourist visa then. She has admitted that she will not be a tourist in Australia.

Thailand vows not to deport Saudi woman

Thailand's immigration police chief says a Saudi woman who fled her family at the weekend will be given temporary entry to the country.

Thai immigration officials had tried to return Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, to Kuwait, where her family is.

She refused to board a flight to Kuwait City on Monday, and barricaded herself into her hotel room at Bangkok airport.

The teenager said she believed her family would kill her if she went back because she had renounced Islam.

The Thai authorities said her status would be assessed by the UN refugee agency.

Thailand's chief of immigration police Surachate Hakparn said on Monday afternoon local time that the country would "protect her as best we can".

"She is now under the sovereignty of Thailand, no-one and no embassy can force her to go anywhere," he said. "We will talk to her and do whatever she requests.

"Since she escaped trouble to seek our help... we will not send anyone to their death."

An injunction filed by Thai lawyers in Bangkok criminal court to stop the deportation was dismissed earlier on Monday.

Thailand is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, and provides no legal protection to asylum-seekers - although there are more than 100,000 refugees in the country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46777848

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

How do some western expats justify working in these piece of shit countries?

mercenary, missionary or missfit.

My time in Saudi was great. Had a blast.