Australia mulls taking in Saudi woman
Print Edition
Australia鈥檚 government has said it will assess the resettlement case of a Saudi woman who fled from her family now that the United Nations has deemed her a refugee, taking the woman鈥檚 high-profile quest for asylum a step forward.
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed in a statement yesterday that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement.
Qunun arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait on Saturday and planned to continue to Australia, where she held a tourist visa. But after being detained by Thai authorities, she refused to board a flight back to Kuwait, barricading herself in an airport hotel room.
After grabbing worldwide attention with dramatic posts on social media in which she said she feared for her safety if made to return home to her family, Qunun eventually was placed in the care of the UNHCR as her bid for refugee status was considered.
Australia鈥檚 Home Affairs Department said it would 鈥渃onsider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals.鈥
Indications from Canberra suggest Qunun may receive a sympathetic hearing.
鈥淚f she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa,鈥 Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp before the UNHCR鈥檚 referral.
A Tuesday statement from the Saudi Embassy in Thailand denied interfering in Qunun鈥檚 case and said it was only monitoring her situation. Describing her case as a 鈥渇amily affair,鈥 it said Saudi officials had neither seized her passport nor demanded her deportation back home.
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