Australian women hold topless protest in support of Saudi teen's asylum bid

A group of female protesters have held a topless demonstration in Australia in support of a runaway Saudi woman’s fight to settle in the country as a refugee.

Dressed only in jeans and calling themselves the Secret Sisterhood, they demonstrated outside the Saudi Consulate in Sydney, calling on Australia to grant Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun residency.

Ms al-Qunun was deemed a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier this week, after she was detained in Bangkok en route to Australia.

The 18-year-old publicised her case on social media after barricading herself in a Bangkok hotel room. She said she feared for her safety if sent back to her family in Saudi Arabia.

With "Secret Sisterhood" written on their backs, the female protesters held placards with slogans including "Let her in", "Rahaf Sisterhood Hero" and "All women free + safe".

Secret Sisterhood founder Jacquie Love said the demonstration was held to urge the Australian government to recognise Ms al-Qunun’s plight and that of oppressed women everywhere.

“She’s been recognised by the UN as a refugee so we believe the Australian government needs to step up, recognise her plight and recognise what she’s gone through," Ms Loves said. "She could be an icon for the rest of the world that women shouldn’t be oppressed and they should be fleeing countries that they are oppressed in.

“We decided to go topless because we believe all women should be able to express themselves freely and safely and we wanted to send a message to Rahaf that we can actually do that in Australia, that women can actually be free and safe."

Secret Sisterhood has also set up an online fundraising campaign, which had raised over £2,000 for Ms al-Qunun at the time of publication.

After mounting a campaign for assistance on Twitter from her Bangkok airport hotel, Ms al-Qunun was allowed to temporarily stay in Thailand under the care of the UN refugee agency, which ruled her claim for asylum valid and referred her case to Australia.

Following that decision, Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it would “consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals”.

Ms al-Qunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but the teenager refused to meet with him.

Thailand’s Immigration Police chief Lieutenant General Surachate Hakparn said the father denied physically abusing Ms al-Qunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her flight.

Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home.

Associated Press contributed to this report