Date:

Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Fearing for Saudi teen’s safety, Canada refugee agency hires guard

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TORONTO: Amid threats to the safety of Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, who was granted asylum in Canada, the Toronto agency helping her has hired a security guard to ensure “she is never alone” as she starts a normal life, its executive director said on Tuesday.

Mohammed, 18, stood out as truly newsworthy after she blockaded herself in an airplane terminal lodging in Thailand’s capital Bangkok to abstain from being sent home to her family because of fears of being hurt or murdered. The family denies any maltreatment.

The adolescent has gotten different dangers online that have made her dread for her wellbeing, said Mario Calla, official chief of Costi, a displaced person organization shrunk by the Canadian government to help her settle in Toronto.

Costi has contracted a security protect and plans to “ensure she is never alone,” Calla told journalists. “It’s difficult to state how genuine these dangers are. We’re considering them important.”

Mohammed, who has disavowed her family name al-Qunun, gave an open proclamation in Toronto on Tuesday that was perused for her sake in English by a settlement specialist.

“I comprehend that everybody here and around the globe wishes me well and might want to keep on finding out about how I am doing, yet … I might want to begin carrying on with an ordinary private life, much the same as some other young lady living in Canada,” she said in the announcement perused by Saba Abbas.

Canada’s consent to take Mohammed comes at a fragile time for Canada-Saudi relations. A year ago the kingdom solidified all new venture with Canada after outside priest Chrystia Freeland required the prompt arrival of imprisoned rights activists.

So when Freeland invited Mohammed at the Toronto air terminal face to face, a few commentators contended that may have additionally incited Saudi experts.

Be that as it may, Freeland told columnists Tuesday she did what she would have needed for her very own girl.

“I envisioned it would be a troublesome and maybe alarming minute and it may have any kind of effect for her by and by to feel she had the individual and welcome help of our administration.”

Mohammed said thanks to the Canadian and Thai governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for making her turn to Canada conceivable.

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