The young Saudi woman seeking passage to asylum in Australia will be temporarily admitted to Thailand for evaluation by the UN refugee agency, the immigration police chief said.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn told reporters Monday night that 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun would be granted entry under the protection of the office of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR).
He said the UN agency would take at least five to seven days to evaluate her case.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate's announcement came after Thai authorities allowed a UN team to meet Ms al-Qunun.
Police officials and staff at the Bangkok airport hotel where the woman was staying said she had already left her room there, though her exact destination was not made public.
Giuseppe De Vincentiis, the UNHCR representative in Thailand, told journalists on Monday night he did not know where Ms al-Qunun would be staying but that she would be safe because she was under his agency's protection. UNHCR declined to release any details of its meeting with her, but De Vincentiis noted "a good spirit of collaboration so far'' with Thai officials.
He noted her tweets mentioned "she does not want Islam", adding that "this type of thing, in her country, is a hard crime.''
Pol Lt Gen Surachate said her father was supposed to arrive in Thailand on Monday night.
"After her father arrives, officials will see what happens and whether or not she will want to go back with him," he said.
The teenager tweeted late Monday that her father had arrived in Bangkok from Saudi Arabia. There was no meeting between the two.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate challenged parts of the young Saudi woman's story, including that she had an Australian visa.
He later said Kuwait Airways had been at fault for allowing her to board her flight to Thailand without having proper travel documents. The airline did not immediately comment.
Thai authorities appeared to back down on its plan to deport her after her case caught international attention.
With the world's media shining a spotlight on the fast-developing story, Ms al-Qunun was finally granted access to representatives of the United Nations refugee agency early on Monday evening.
Thailand's immigration police chief said Ms al-Qunun, who was stopped in Bangkok as she was trying to travel to Australia for asylum to escape alleged abuse by her family, will not be sent anywhere against her wishes.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate said at a news conference at Bangkok's main international airport on Monday afternoon that if Thai authorities decide not to send her back to Saudi Arabia, they would need to explain why to Saudi authorities in order not to affect the countries' relations.
"If she does not want to leave, we will not force her," he told reporters at Suvarnabhumi airport. "The UNHCR and I will... listen to what she wants, whether or not she wants to receive asylum to which country, and we will help coordinate."
If she wished to stay in Thailand, the UN would have to verify the legitimacy of her asylum claims, Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.
"Thailand is a land of smiles. We will not send anyone to die," he added. "We will take care of her as best as we can."
The immigration police chief's change of heart appeared to be partly due to the worldwide attention and pressure from foreign governments and international bodies that the case has attracted over the past 36 hours.
