Saudi asylum seeker Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun deletes Twitter account following death threats

18-year-old Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed al-Qanun could soon be calling either Canada or Australia home.
AFP/Getty Images

Saudi asylum seeker Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has deleted her twitter account after allegedly receiving death threats.

On Friday the 18-year-old’s social media account was no longer on the website.

Sophie McNeill, a journalist who has been with the teenager told followers that she “is safe and fine.”

She added: “She will be back on twitter but for now she’s apparently having a short break.”

It’s thought that either Canada or Australia could become the new home for Ms Qunun.

Thai police have said several countries are in talks with the UN refugee agency to accept her.

Alqunun, the 18-year old Saudi woman who fled her family to seek asylum, remains in Thailand under the care of the UN refugee agency as she awaits a decision by a third country to accept her as a refugee
AP

On Friday, Thailand’s immigration chief, Surachate Hakparn, told reporters the UN was accelerating the case. He did not give any indication on when the process would be complete.

The 18-year-old barricaded herself in an airport hotel room, launching a social media campaign via Twitter and drawing global attention to her case.

An Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Sophie McNeill who was in the room with Ms Qunun said the teenager was “terrified.”

Ms Qunun’s campaign garnered enough public and diplomatic support to convince Thai officials to admit her temporarily under the protection of UN officials.

On Wednesday, she was granted refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Australian newspaper reports Ms Qunun appears to be headed to Canada after the commissioner withdrew its referral to Australia to take her as a refugee.

Australian government sources denied a Daily Mail report that the 18-year-old had already been granted resettlement in Australia, after it reported that she had told one of its reporters: “I am so happy, I will start a new life,” the newspaper reports.

Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told reporters today the UNHCR was “working hard” to prepare the documents required for her resettlement to a third country.

“There are countries we already know that have offered to take her — such as Australia which has been co-ordinating with the UNHCR — or Canada, but it depends on the readiness of the destination country, if they are ready to receive her or not,” he said.

“Today for the document process, that is between UNHCR and the destination country. We are still waiting for an answer on that but from what I see they are working very fast.”

On Friday, the teenager had deleted her Twitter account after she reportedly received death threats.

Ms Qunun’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, where women’s freedoms are severely restricted under the country’s guardianship laws.

Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home.

Human rights activists say many similar cases have gone unreported.

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