Because they fought back against their forced marriage, was imprisoned a young woman in Saudi Arabia for half a year of their own family. Then the flight to Thailand was her. Your story is not an isolated case.
For Rahaf Mohammed al-Kunun there is reason to hope: According to current information, you should not be deported from Thailand to Saudi Arabia. One day, the young Saudi had been cal’s wife in a Hotel at the airport of Bangkok, without knowing where their journey would go. Back to the Riad, as it calls for the Saudi Embassy in Bangkok? Or more to Australia, their actual target, wherein it is supported by the Human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW). There you want to escape your family. Of these, Mohammed al-Kunun, have you locked up for a year and a half, because you have reluctant, however, to marry against their will.
“The Thai authorities have thankfully not, as initially intended, in the flight back to Kuwait,” says Adam Coogle, a middle East expert with HRW, the tough course of the last couple of hours. First of all, the Thai immigration authority explained that the young woman not to return to Kuwait. From there, you would have been then transferred allegedly to Saudi Arabia. Then it have called from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Thailand wool to deport the woman’s. Then finally, employees of the refugee Agency of the United Nations (UNHCR) had access to Rahaf Mohammed al-Kunun.
Not An Isolated Case
Rahaf Mohammed al-Kunun is not the only young woman who tried to flee from Saudi Arabia. In April 2017, was arrested at the airport of Manila, the young Saudi citizen, Dina Lasloom. They, too, wanted to escape a forced marriage and had fled outside of the country. Nevertheless, she was deported a day after arrival back to Saudi Arabia. Her current fate is unknown. The news Agency Bloomberg according to which – it relies on an unnamed Saudi government officials – is Lasloom in a detention facility for young women. The Saudi human rights activist Moudi Aljohani expects that Lasloom had died. HRW has no secure information about the whereabouts of Lasloom.
Hope in Bangkok: Rahaf Mohammed
“We have documented over the years, some of these cases,” says Adam Coogle of Human Rights Watch in an interview with DW. “It is often the case that women in Saudi Arabia are abused, and a self-determined life is denied, because their male family members.” This rule attempted to escape some of the women, by fleeing abroad.
“Reforms must come from within”
In the case of Rahaf Mohammed al-Kunun, however, is extraordinary, says the Saudi journalist Arafat al-Majid,a member of the city Council of Al-Qatif. “It would be unfair to say really, Rahaf would be for your entire Generation,” said al-Majid in an Interview with DW. “She has decided to stand against your family. It’s possible, but not too often.” The appropriate laws for dealing with such cases were currently being reformed. “It would be best if the Kingdom itself takes care of this kind of work. Outside pressure is counterproductive,” said al-Majid. Many Saudi citizens were for Reformenaus.
Women can’t rely on the state
As a guarantor of change, a time was called long – crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says wrong, the Saudi, living in England, civil rights activist Yahya Assiri. “There is no such reforms, even if there is some movement. This is mainly Propaganda with the aim of improving the Image of the Kingdom.” A first step should consist in the Saudi dissidents and activists and to listen to them. This does not happen.
Young women would not be protected from the access of their families sufficiently, so Assiri. This would ensure the state. If that doesn’t happen, but be forced the women to choose a different path – for example, the escape abroad. “But even then, the state will not help you. But on the contrary tried, you to Saudi Arabia to bring back.”
Due to the decision-making power: women in Saudi Arabia
Not infrequently, the Kingdom of the States in which the Refugees were staying, as well a step ahead of the human rights organizations. “Saudi Arabia has ensured that the young woman was. To achieve this, the Kingdom of his money, his influence and his relations.”
Important: the correct escape route
So the women are to a large extent. Your chances of Escaping depended very much on the chosen Route, says Adam Coogle of HRW. “In some cases, those women had success, could reach a country with a well developed asylum system, for example, a European country or the USA. Women who tried to escape to Australia, however, were intercepted, in some cases, and in those countries where Saudi Arabia to exert diplomatic pressure.”