BANGKOK: An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family and sought asylum when she arrived in Thailand will leave Bangkok for Canada on Friday, a Thai immigration official said. “She will fly to Canada at 11:15 pm tonight (1615 GMT),” immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told AFP. Her attempt to flee the ultra-conservative kingdom has been embraced by rights groups as a beacon of defiance against repression. Thai authorities initially threatened to deport her after she arrived in Bangkok from Kuwait last weekend. Qunun alleges abuse by her family — who deny the allegations — and rights groups also said she had renounced Islam, risking prosecution in conservative Saudi Arabia.

Source: Pakistan Today January 11, 2019 16:07 UTC