"Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun"

Thailand's immigration chief vowed Wednesday not to force refugees to return home "involuntarily", after a Saudi woman's desperate plea for resettlement drew global attention to a country that does not recognise asylum seekers.

The United Nation refugee agency has welcomed Canada's offer of asylum to a Saudi teenager who ran away from her family.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that Canada was taking in an 18-year-old Saudi asylum seeker who fled her family and harnessed the power of Twitter to stave off deportation from Thailand.

THE FATE of two Australia-bound asylum seekers from the Middle East, who were stopped in Thailand, remained unclear as visiting Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne discussed the two cases with her Thai counterpart yesterday.

Australia's foreign minister Marise Payne met her Thai counterpart Thursday, as her country appeared poised to offer to asylum to a young Saudi woman who fled her family to Thailand in a drama relayed in real-time over Twitter.

Thai immigration police bureau will issue a warning to Kuwait Airways for allowing Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun to board its flight to Bangkok although she had insufficient travel documents.

The 18-year-old who fled her family in Saudi Arabia is refusing to meet her father, Immigration police chief Pol Lt-General Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesday. 

Sydney - Australia gave its strongest hint yet on Wednesday that an 18-year-old Saudi woman in Bangkok would be granted humanitarian asylum, despite efforts by Riyadh and her family to force her return home.

The father and brother of a Saudi teenager, whose flight and plea for asylum has made international headlines, will travel to Thailand later today to give their accounts to the UN refugee agency, the Thai Immigration police chief said on Tuesday.

The asylum claim of a young Saudi woman who resisted deportation from Thailand in a gripping, live-tweeted ordeal will take "several days" to assess, the UN's refugee agency in Bangkok said Tuesday.

A UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday met Saudi woman who ran away from her family and was detained at Suvarnabhumi Airport on her way to Australia.

The Nation