SUNDAY TIMES WEB DESK: Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been at Bangkok airport since Saturday when she was denied entry by Thai immigration officials, who deny her accusations that she was detained at the request of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry denied her allegations that its embassy had confiscated her passport, saying in a Tweet she was stopped at the airport for violating Thai immigration laws.
Qunun posted a video on Twitter on Monday of her barricading her hotel door with a table and a mattress.
Qunun told she fled Kuwait while her family was visiting the Gulf country and had planned to travel from Thailand to Australia to seek asylum. She said she was detained after leaving her plane in Bangkok and told she would be sent back to Kuwait.
“My brothers and family and the Saudi embassy will be waiting for me in Kuwait,” Qunun said by text and voice message from the hotel on Sunday.
“They will kill me,” she said. “My life is in danger. My family threatens to kill me for the most trivial things.”
Asked why she was seeking refuge in Australia, she said: “Physical, emotional and verbal abuse and being imprisoned inside the house for months. They threaten to kill me and prevent me from continuing my education.
“They won’t let me drive or travel. I am oppressed. I love life and work and I am very ambitious but my family is preventing me from living.”