He left with her passport and did not return. Upon arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, a man greeted her, not disclosing that he was a Saudi embassy official, and told her that he needed her passport so that he could help her obtain a Thai visa. Her family reportedly filed a missing person report after her escape from Kuwait. A tourist visa had been issued to her that permitted entry into Australia. She intended to continue on another flight to seek asylum in Australia. While Mohammed was on vacation with her family in Kuwait, she left them and boarded a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. On 11 January 2019 she was granted asylum in Canada and arrived in Toronto the next day. After she appealed for help on Twitter and gained significant attention, Thai authorities abandoned their plans to forcibly return her to Kuwait (from where she would be repatriated to Saudi Arabia), and she was taken under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and granted refugee status. She had intended to claim asylum in Australia and escape her family who she says abused her and threatened to kill her for, among other reasons, leaving Islam, an act that is a capital offence under Saudi law. Rahaf Mohammed (formerly Rahaf Mohammed Mutlaq al-Qunun Al-Shammari Arabic: رهف محمد مطلق القنون الشمري) is a Saudi refugee and author who was detained by Thai authorities on 5 January 2019 while transiting through Bangkok airport, en route from Kuwait to Australia.
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