A Saudi teenager who caused a sensation by defying her family and seeking asylum abroad was welcomed with open arms in Toronto Saturday at the end of a dramatic international odyssey.
Photo: AFP Asylum Seeker Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, smiles as she is introduced to the media at Toronto Pearson International Airport, alongside Canadian minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, right, on January 12, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland greeted Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun after she landed in Toronto, wearing a skirt, a gray hoodie emblazoned in red with the word "CANADA" and a blue cap with the logo of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Smiling broadly, the 18-year-old posed for photographers with Freeland at her side, but made no statement.
Later, she tweeted a video of her arrival, with the comment: "I love Canada I love you all."
Freeland said Qunun "wanted Canadians to see that she's here, that she's well and that she is very, very happy to be in her new home."
"She had a pretty long journey and is exhausted and prefers not to take questions for the moment," the diplomatic chief added, with an arm around Qunun's shoulder.
She was taken in by Toronto-based refugee group Costi, a spokeswoman said.
In the coming days, Costi representatives will help her open a bank account and perform various administrative tasks before finding her a permanent home.
In the meantime, she is staying in a facility constantly under guard. Costi has recommended Qunun that she avoid sharing her address.
The arrival in Canada marks the epilogue of an international saga.
Qunun captured the world's attention with a trail of Twitter posts that ignited a #SaveRahaf movement as she fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia.
Rights groups also said she had renounced Islam, risking prosecution in Saudi Arabia. Her family has denied the abuse allegations.
The publicity thwarted an attempt to deport her to Saudi Arabia after she arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait a week ago, with Thai authorities instead turning her over to the UN's refugee agency.
Then on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the surprise announcement that Canada would welcome her.
Freeland said that in granting Qunun asylum, Canada was "standing up for human rights around the world, and we believe very strongly that women's rights are human rights."
The move is sure to further strain Canada's relations with the kingdom. Ties went sideways last August over Ottawa's rights criticism of Saudi Arabia, prompting Riyadh to expel the Canadian ambassador and sever all trade and investment ties in protest.
Qunun's attempt to flee Saudi Arabia was embraced by rights groups as a beacon of defiance against repression.
Her deployment of social media allowed her to avoid the fate of countless other refugees who are quietly sent back home or left to languish in Bangkok detention centers.
