Rahaf Mohammed (formerly Rahaf Mohammed Mutlaq al-Qunun Al-Shammari; ) 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.
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. 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. On 11 January 2019 she was granted asylum in Canada and arrived in Toronto the next day.
Early life
Rahaf was born on 11 March 2000. Her father is the town governor of al-Sulaimi in the Ha'il Region. She has nine siblings.
She has claimed that her family had locked her up for months, subjecting her to physical and psychological abuse. Her father however denied abusing her. Rahaf also said that her cousin threatened to kill her because she no longer follows Islam. Public apostasy in Islam is a crime punishable by death according to the Sharia law of Saudi Arabia.
Detention at the airport hotel
While Rahaf was on vacation with her family in Kuwait, she left them and boarded a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. She intended to continue on another flight to seek asylum in Australia. A tourist visa had been issued to her that permitted entry into Australia. Her family reportedly filed a missing person report after her escape from Kuwait. 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. He left with her passport and did not return. Mohammed never intended to leave the airport's transit area and therefore did not require a Thai visa.
She was detained by Thai authorities at the Miracle Transit Hotel within the airport.
Mohammed opened an account on Twitter which spread rapidly because of the international lawyer Mahmoud Refaat's reactions on Twitter who changed the situation by his intervention and rescued Rahaf from potential deportation, and in a series of posts said that she had renounced Islam and was concerned that she could be murdered by her family if deported to Saudi Arabia. She also said she had barricaded herself in her hotel room, was refusing to exit until she met with UN representatives, claimed refugee status, and implored embassy officials of various Western nations to assist her in seeking asylum. This drew world-wide support, with more than half a million tweets using the "#SaveRahaf" hashtag. In one tweet, she shared a picture of her passport. Australian ABC journalist Sophie McNeill flew to Bangkok and snuck into her room and barricaded herself with Mohammed to protect her. While barricaded Mohammed also allowed a friend to tweet on her behalf.
Lawyers in Thailand filed an injunction to prevent her forced deportation. The injunction was subsequently dismissed, though an appeal was planned. Thailand's chief of immigration at the Royal Thai Police Surachate Hakparn subsequently confirmed that authorities in the country had acted at the behest of Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed was scheduled to be forcibly repatriated on a flight to Kuwait on 7 January 2019. She barricaded her room to block entry, while at times live streaming airport staff trying to get her to leave the room. She refused to leave. Upon intervention of the international prominent lawyer Mahmoud Refaat, the Thai government later released a statement saying that it would not deport her. François Zimeray, a lawyer chosen by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights to defend Mohammed in Bangkok against deportation back to Saudi Arabia, judged that Mohammed's tweets had played an overwhelming role in preventing her deportation. Zimeray stated that the Thai authorities' attitude changed "completely" in "a few minutes" when they realized the strength of international support for Mohammed. Mohammed revealed in a later interview that she wrote a goodbye letter and decided that she would end her life if she was to be forced back to Saudi Arabia.