Rahaf Mohammed

Rahaf Mohammed (formerly Rahaf Mohammed Mutlaq al-Qunun Al-Shammari; Arabic: رهف محمد مطلق القنون الشمري; born 11 March 2000) is a Saudi woman who fled from her family in 2019. She was detained by Thai authorities on 5 January while in transit through an airport in Bangkok, en route from Kuwait to Australia. She had intended to claim asylum in Australia and escape her family who she says abused her and threatened to kill her for, among other reasons, leaving Islam, an act that is a capital offence under Saudi law. After she appealed for help on Twitter and gained significant attention, Thai authorities abandoned their plans to forcibly return her to Kuwait (from where she would be repatriated to Saudi Arabia), and she was taken under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and granted refugee status. On 11 January 2019, she was granted asylum in Canada and arrived in Toronto the next day. Since her settlement in Canada, she has written a memoir.