Thai court rejects bid to block deportation of Saudi woman

Bangkok: A Thai court Monday rejected an attempt to block the deportation of a Saudi woman who made a desperate plea for asylum, saying she feared for her life after escaping an abusive family.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun told AFP she ran away from her family while travelling in Kuwait because they subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.

The 18-year-old said she had planned to travel to Australia and seek asylum there, and feared she would be killed if she was repatriated by Thai immigration officials who stopped her during transit on Sunday.

The incident comes against the backdrop of intense scrutiny of Saudi Arabia over its investigation and handling of the shocking murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, which has renewed criticism of the kingdom's rights record. Human rights lawyer Nadthasiri Bergman filed an injunction to block her deportation but it was rejected by Bangkok's criminal court.

"They dismissed the request," she told AFP. "They said we do not have enough evidence," she said, adding they planned to appeal.

Thai officials had said Qunun would be sent back but the Kuwait Airways flight departed Monday without her, according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Qunun had posted a video of her barricading her hotel room door with furniture.

She said she was stopped by Saudi and Kuwaiti officials when she arrived at the Thai capital's Suvarnabhumi airport and her travel document was forcibly taken from her, a claim backed by HRW.

Asked if Qunun was seeking asylum, Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said "we do not know but if anyone wants to seek asylum, they have to wait for those countries to reply".

Abdulilah al-Shouaibi, charge d'affaires at the Saudi embassy in Bangkok, acknowledged in an interview with Saudi-owned channel Rotana Khalijial that the woman's father had contacted the diplomatic mission for "help" to bring her back.

But he denied that her passport had been seized and that embassy officials were present inside the airport. If sent back, Qunun told AFP she would likely be imprisoned, and was "sure 100 percent" her family would kill her, she said.

"My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair," she added. Immigration chief Surachate defended stopping her and argued that

otherwise many people would use the same excuse to stay

in Thailand.