Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, an 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family, is pictured in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) building Bangkok, Thailand, January 11, 2019, before leaving for the airport, after she was granted asylum in Canada. Khaled Ibrahim/UNHCR/Handout via REUTERS
January 12, 2019
TORONTO (Reuters) – An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family this week saying she feared for her life arrived in Toronto on Saturday after Canada granted her asylum, according to a Reuters witness.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun grabbed international attention this week after she barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room to resist being sent home to her family, which denies any abuse.
Qunun refused to meet her father and brother, who arrived in Bangkok to try take her back to Saudi Arabia.
Instead, she took a Korean Air flight from Bangkok to Seoul on Friday and then a connecting flight to Toronto.
(Reporting by Chris Helgren; Writing by Denny Thomas; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
