Saudi asylum-seeker refuses to meet father, Thai police say

Chief of Immigration Police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn talks to media about the status of Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun outside the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Bangkok  on Jan. 8, 2019. AP

BANGKOK — Thai police say a Saudi woman who fled her family to seek asylum abroad has refused to meet with her father in Thailand.

Thailand’s immigration police chief says Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun’s father and brother arrived together in Bangkok on Tuesday but Alqunun has refused to meet them.

Alqunun arrived in Bangkok from Kuwait late Saturday but was denied entry by Thai officials. Following urgent pleas for help she made over Twitter, she has since been allowed to temporarily stay in Thailand under the care of the UN’s refugee agency that will determine her protection claim.

Immigration police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn says UN officials expect that the case will be concluded in a few days. /ee

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