INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image:The #SaveRahaf campaign went viral after Rahaf started tweeting about her plight for asylumA Saudi woman who fled her family and
became stranded at Bangkok's main airport is flying to Canada after being granted asylum status.Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, had been
trying to reach Australia via Bangkok, but was initially told to return to Kuwait, where her family were waiting.She refused to fly back and
barricaded herself into her airport hotel room, attracting international attention.She said she had renounced Islam, which is punishable by
death in Saudi Arabia.The UN's refugee agency has said it considers her to be a legitimate refugee.Refugee status is normally granted by
governments, but the UNHCR can grant it where states are "unable or unwilling to do so", according to its website
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters: "Canada has been unequivocal that we will always stand up for human rights and
women's rights around the world
When the UN made a request of us that we grant Ms al-Qunun asylum, we accepted."Canada has previously angered Saudi Arabia after calling for
the release of detained women's rights activists in the country - prompting Riyadh to expel Canada's ambassador and freeze all new
trade.The UNHCR has welcomed Canada's decision to resettle Ms Qunun.The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: "[Her]
plight has captured the world's attention over the past few days, providing a glimpse into the precarious situation of millions of
refugees worldwide."Refugee protection today is often under threat and cannot always be assured, but in this instance international refugee
law and overriding values of humanity have prevailed."What happened to Rahaf Mohammed al-QununShe was on a trip to Kuwait with her family,
when she fled on a flight to Bangkok.She said she intended to take a connecting flight to Australia - and had an Australian visa - but that
her passport was seized by a Saudi diplomat when he met her coming off the flight at Suvarnabhumi airport, leaving her stranded.A Saudi
envoy in Bangkok denied any official Saudi involvement in Ms Qunun's detention.Thai officials initially described her case as a "family
problem" and said she would be repatriated back to Kuwait the next day.However, Ms Qunun sent a series of tweets pleading for help from her
airport hotel room, and her case was picked up by Human Rights Watch and journalists
A number of countries, including Australia, have considered her case for asylum.'Threats to her life'Analysis by Jonathan Head,
TheIndianSubcontinent south east Asia correspondentImage copyrightUNHCRImage caption
Ms Qunun, seen here at a UN
building before leaving Bangkok, is en route to Toronto via Seoul
After days of speculation that she would move to
Australia, Rahaf al-Qunun found herself on a flight in the opposite direction, to Canada
She was seen briefly, being escorted to the departure gate by UN officials
As her plane took off Police General Surachate Hakparn, the immigration chief whose change of heart on Monday allowed her temporary asylum
in Thailand, told journalists she had left the country cheerful and grateful to those who looked after her here
Her father and brother, he said, who had come on what turned out to be a futile visit to try to persuade her to return to Saudi Arabia with
them, would be leaving Thailand shortly after her.It is only two days since the Australian government announced that it had been approached
to take Ms Qunun, and that it would treat her request sympathetically
The UN usually approaches only one country at a time to seek asylum
It is not clear why the Australian option fell through, and the UN switched to Canada
It might be that Australia's tough line towards refugees, and the insistence of its Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton that she would get
no special treatment, threatened to slow down the processing of her application.The UN was concerned about her safety, following online
threats to her life, and Canada may have been able to process her resettlement more quickly.Why did she fleeRenunciation of Islam is
punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.Under Saudi Arabia's "male guardianship system", a Saudi woman is required to obtain a male relative's
approval to apply for a passport, travel outside the country, study abroad on a government scholarship, get married, leave prison, or even
exit a shelter for abuse victims.Ms Qunun told the TheIndianSubcontinent: "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."She also said she
was afraid her family would kill her.Separately, she told AFP she had suffered physical and psychological abuse from her family, including
being locked in her room for six months for cutting her hair.A spokesperson for her family told the TheIndianSubcontinent that they did not
wish to comment and all they cared about was the young woman's safety.On Friday, Ms Qunun wrote on Twitter that she had "some good news
and some bad news", before deleting her account
Her friends said she had received death threats online.Has anything like this happened beforeYes
Ms Qunun's 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.'Rahaf is an inspiration''Sara', a Saudi woman, spoke to TheIndianSubcontinent OS
on the World Service on WednesdayRahaf is an inspiration
But she's not the first one who did this and definitely not the last one
What we are going through is awful
We think about this every day because us women here do not know what it feels like to go out
We don't know what freedom tastes like
Dad keeps my passport with him all the time, we go to hotels and he puts it next to him when he sleeps
Unfortunately it's not a revolution
Every girl that is tweeting about this, it's either that she has already escaped or she's using a fake account like me
Some people tweeted me or DMed me to tell me to use my real account, for me to be brave
We do not want the guardianship any more
I want to go out of the house and drink coffee from Starbucks
I don't have to take my whole family
This is just way too harsh on us
Living this life is exhausting.
