An 18-year-old Saudi woman who was stopped at a Bangkok airport while travelling to Australia has left Bangkok airport under the care of the United Nations refugee agency.
Thai immigration officials had tried to return Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun to Kuwait, where her family is.
But she refused to board a flight on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room.
She said she feared her family would kill her as she had renounced Islam.
Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have expressed grave concerns for Ms Mohammed al-Qunun, who had travelled to Thailand for a connecting flight to Australia, where she hoped to seek asylum.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees's Thailand Representative Giuseppe de Vincentiis says the agency will now assess her case of escape alleged abuse by her family.
"An assessment has been initiated, an independent assessment done by two UNHCR colleagues. I cannot, of course, figure out what will be the decision, but we have strongly advocated with the Thai government, and we have received reassurances that, pending the completion of the assessment and any decision, she will not be sent back because that will be a case of refoulement, and where her personal freedom could be put at risk", - de Vincentiis said.
Ms al-Qunun was granted a three-month visitor visa by the Australian Department of Home Affairs on December the 6th last year.
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