Asylum seeker

Saudi woman pleads for asylum

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun refused to board a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room.

She said she feared her family would kill her for renouncing Islam.

She is now staying at a Thai government shelter while the UN refugee agency assesses her case.

Her father and brother have arrived but she is refusing to see them.

Renunciation of Islam, known as apostasy, is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Thai immigration officials had initially said she should return to Kuwait.

Manus Island asylum seeker charged with raping school student at hotel

Manus Province commander David Yapu said the accused was alleged to have met his 18-year-old victim in the town, before taking her to the nearby Harbourside hotel and raping her multiple times.

"The victim suffered loss of blood until she managed to escape from the room," Yapu told Fairfax Media. The incident occurred on January 17.

The victim attempted to reach safety at a relative's house but "fainted" at the side of a river until she was rescued by a passers-by, he said. She was then taken to Lorengau General Hospital for treatment.