INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun said her passport was seized at Bangkok airport
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 TheIndianSubcontinent that she had renounced Islam, and feared she
would be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia and killed by her family.The TheIndianSubcontinent'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.Ms Mohammed al-Qunun told TheIndianSubcontinent 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."Thai police Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn told the TheIndianSubcontinent that Ms Mohammed al-Qunun was escaping a
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 Airlines.Gen Surachate said he was unaware of any passport seizure.It is unclear why Ms Mohammed
al-Qunun would need a Thai visa if she was in transit to Australia and had an Australian visa.Saudi citizens visiting Thailand are also
eligible to apply for a visa on arrival when entering the country.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.
