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The UN is asking Australia to consider resettling a Saudi teenager, seeking asylum after fleeing her family. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, barricaded herself in her room in the transit area of a Bangkok airport after being denied entry into the country on Saturday, January 5, 2019.
Video source: VCG
After claiming her family would kill her if she was forced to return home Rahaf was allowed to enter Thailand, and begin seeking asylum in another country through the help of the UN refugee agency on January 8.
The teenager drew global support after posting a series of messages on Twitter, saying she "escaped Kuwait" and that she feared being killed if she returned because she had decided to renounce Islam.
In Saudi Arabia, renouncing Islam is a crime punishable by death.
The case is drawing attention to Saudi Arabia's strict social rules at a time when Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, is already under the microscope.
After the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, last year, and the humanitarian consequences of its war in Yemen, the UN is asking Australia to consider resettling the Saudi teenager.
