Australian FM travels to Thailand over Saudi teen’s case

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has traveled to Thailand to review the asylum case of an 18-year-old Saudi girl who has been stopped in the Asian country on her way to Australia fleeing purported abuse by her family.

According to Press TV, Payne was in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Thursday after the Australian government and the country’s Department of Home Affairs said they would consider giving asylum to Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, the Saudi girl.

The top Australian diplomat was expected to meet with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Prajin Juntong and hold a bilateral meeting with her Thai counterpart, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, to discuss Qunun’s case.

The Saudi teen is currently staying in a hotel in the Thai capital under the care of the United Nations (UN)’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, which has been processing her application for refugee status ahead of possible resettlement in Australia.

Qunun was granted UNHCR refugee status after she locked herself inside a hotel room at the Bangkok International Airport and launched an international social media campaign to prevent Thai authorities from deporting or handing her over to her family.

The 18-year-old Saudi girl had managed to flee from her family while on vacation in Kuwait. She accuses them of having subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.

Qunun was trying to reach Australia to seek asylum there but was stopped by Saudi and Kuwaiti immigration officials during transit at the Bangkok airport.

She has alleged that she will be killed if she is made to return to Saudi Arabia, where women are subjected to anachronistic social restrictions, including under strict “male guardianship” practices.

The teenager has refused to meet her father and brother, who have arrived in Bangkok to try to take her back to Saudi Arabia.

The Australian foreign minister’s visit to Thailand will also involve talks on the release of Bahraini soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi, who has refugee status in Australia but is also held in Bangkok on an Interpol red notice issued on the request of the Bahraini regime.

Araibi has been in Thai detention since November 27, when Thai authorities arrested him as he arrived at Bangkok airport with his wife for a holiday.

Payne said in a statement that she would raise the case of the 25-year-old with the Thai government to find ways for his safe return to Australia.

Araibi is wanted in Bahrain, where the regime claims he had been involved in attacking a police station and has sentenced him to 10 years in prison in absentia.

The soccer player says the charges against him are politically-motivated and that he was in Qatar at the time of the purported incident. He says he was targeted because he was a Shia and because his brother was a political activist in the Persian Gulf country.

Bahrain has launched a deadly crackdown on dissent since 2011.

Araibi is also a critic of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President, Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa, who is a cousin of the Bahraini king. His arrest comes amid a massive campaign by Salman to extend his term as AFC president.

World football governing body FIFA on Wednesday called for a “humane and speedy resolution of the case concerning the player Hakeem al-Araibi” and for his safe return back to Australia.

ME