I have never made a post like this in my life but I just found out about this and it's unbelievable that no one is talking about this enough.
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun is a 18 years old Saudi woman who is trying to escape her abusive family and assert her independence. She had planned to seek asylum in Australia, so while she was in a family trip in Kuwait, she got on a plane to Bangkok.
A man who was waiting for her at Bangkok took her passport and disappeared. Her family has filled a missing person file and she is being forced to return to Kuwait by monday morning.
She's in a hotel room fearing for her life, she's been death threatened by her family.
She has barricaded herself inside of the hotel room, but her friends are saying that she is being dragged out of her room right now. If we don't do enough she will be killed
We don't know what to do to help her... I can only make a post about it
This is her change.org http://chng.it/xhHysbBD
Please tweet too tagging it as #SaveRahaf
This is everything I know... Please help by reblogging and adding information if you know some.
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Rahaf al-Qunun, 18, fled her family after renouncing Islam, and had been stranded at Bangkok airport.
❤️ Rahaf escaped Saudi Arabia’s patriarchal system — more oppressive under #MBS #Khashoggi
Being physically and psychologically abused is criminal. Being locked in your room for SIX MONTHS because you cut your hair too short is medieval. Reach out for help #Save....
👏👏👏 🇨🇦 Thanks Canada.
This is one of the reasons why Canada is the only “full democracy” in the West. The US was downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy" in 2017 because of Trump.
Why she fled from her family and Saudi Arabia?
“I don’t have rights in Saudi Arabia”, Rahaf
Renunciation of Islam is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
Under Saudi Arabia's "male guardianship system", a Saudi woman is required to obtain a male relative's approval to apply for a passport, travel outside the country, study abroad on a government scholarship, get married, leave prison, or even exit a shelter for abuse victims.
Ms Qunun told the BBC: "I shared my story and my pictures on social media and my father is so angry because I did this... I can't study and work in my country, so I want to be free and study and work as I want."
She also said she was afraid her family would kill her.
Separately, she told AFP she had suffered physical and psychological abuse from her family, including being locked in her room for six months for cutting her hair.
On Friday, Ms Qunun wrote on Twitter that she had "some good news and some bad news", before deleting her account. Her friends said she had received death threats online.
Why Saudi Women Are Literally Living ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Mona Eltahawy - NYTimes May 24, 2017
Her Social Media campaign #SaveRahaf
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, had been trying to reach Australia via Bangkok, but was initially told to return to Kuwait, where her family were waiting.
She refused to fly back and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room, attracting international attention.
she kept up her barrage, live tweeting every minute of her ordeal and putting out videos that showed everything that was happening to her at the airport. Over the course of Sunday, her posts became more and more fevered.
The fear and desperation she conveyed through the tweets drew sympathy and support from the Twitter community.
Tweets carrying the #SaveRahaf hashtag continued to gain momentum and by mid-Sunday afternoon, it was in more than half a million tweets, according to Twitter.
An unknown teenager from Saudi Arabia that no-one had ever heard of had gone from 24 followers to more than 27,000 in the span of less than 24 hours.
Her Twitter account @rahaf84427714 is now at 173,000+ followers
Rahaf al-Qunun: Unpicking the tweets that may have saved her life, BBC
Canada to the Rescue
When Thailand threaten to deport Rahaf, Canada helped pressure Thailand to protect her according to Human Rights Watch.
prompting this change
“Thailand is a land of smiles. We will not send someone back to die,” Thailand immigration chief, Major Generak Surachate Hakparn
"Canada has been unequivocal that we will always stand up for human rights and women's rights around the world. When the UN made a request of us that we grant Ms al-Qunun asylum, we accepted.", Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Canada didn’t give in or sell out like Trump “Individual-1″
Canada has previously angered Saudi Arabia after calling for the release of detained women's rights activists in the country - prompting Riyadh to expel Canada's ambassador and freeze all new trade.
Saudi Arabia’s Response
Her online campaign was so successful that Saudi chargé d'affaires Abdalelah Mohammed A. al-Shuaibi told Thai officials through a translator:
"We wish they had confiscated her phone instead of her passport."
#SaveRahaf: Saudi teen's successful online campaign
