Saudi woman who fled family pledges to fight for women escaping persecution

Rahaf Mohammed, the Saudi teen who shot into the headlines after barricading herself into a Thai hotel room, has pledged to fight for women fleeing persecution after she successfully escaped abuse and the fear of death in her home country.

“Today and for years to come, I will work in support of freedom for women around the world – the same freedom I experienced on the first day I arrived in Canada,” she told reporters at a press conference in Toronto.

After her plans to seek asylum in Australia fell apart and she feared deportation back to Saudi Arabia, UNHCR intervened and granted her refugee status. Canada offered to resettle her and she landed in Toronto on Saturday.

Mohammed, who was previously known as Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, has foregone her last name, after her family disowned the 18-year old in a statement on social media.

“I was not treated respectfully by my family and I was not allowed to be myself and who I want to be,” said Mohammed.

Costi, a Canadian refugee resettlement agency that works with recently arrived refugees, has helped Mohammed adjust to life in Canada. As soon as she landed in Toronto, she was whisked to the mall to get outfitted in winter clothing and a mobile phone, said Mario Calla, the organization’s executive director. The organization has also worked to find her a family to help ease the resettlement process.

Costi has also hired private security for Mohammed, following a number of threats the young woman has received online.

Refugee resettlement is often a lengthy process once a candidate has been approved, but Costi takes an average of two emergency cases a year, said Calla.

Mohammed’s settlement has been a high-profile matter, with Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland, escorting her through the arrival gate of Toronto’s airport.

Freeland’s presence has been widely seen as a jab at Saudi Arabia for its treatment of female dissidents. Last year, a tweet by Freeland which sharply criticized the Saudi government’s detention of female activists, prompted officials in the kingdom to expel Canadian diplomats.

On Monday, an American-based Saudi lobby group cautioned Canada over its policies– and its overt support of Mohammed.

“The provocative and immature policies of [Freeland] and Justin Trudeau against the biggest Middle Eastern country and the heart of the Arab and Muslim world, Saudi Arabia, might lead major Arab-Muslim nations to review their relations with Canada,” tweeted Salman al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee.

Mohammed has indicated she will no longer give public statements, following her press conference and three interviews given on Sunday. Instead, she will spend her time learning English and adjusting to life in a new city and country.

“I want to be independent, travel, make my own decisions on education, a career, or who and when I should marry. I had no say in any of this,” she said. “Today I can proudly say that I am capable of making all of those decisions.”