A sign of hope for Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun.
These pictures show the young Saudi woman leaving the airport in Bangkok, together with
officials from the UN refugee agency.
The UNHCR will assess whether she can be granted refugee status, protecting her from deportation.
This marks a pause in a tense stand-off that began on Saturday.
Al-Qunun arrived from Kuwait, where she was staying with her family.
She was stopped at immigration.
She says her passport was taken from her, and officials tried to send her back to Kuwait.
The 18-year-old then barricaded herself an airport hotel room.
She drew attention to her plight on social media, quickly gathering tens of thousands
of followers.
She said she feared for life, after her family threatened her for renouncing Islam and cutting
her hair.
I'm not leaving my room until I see UNHCR.
I want asylum.
The Thai authorities then seemed to perform a dramatic about-face, allowing a top UN official
to see her."We strongly advocated with the Thai government and we received reassurances
that pending the completion of the assessment
and any decision, she will not be sent back.
Today, the UNHCR representative is personally here.
He has told me that he will take no more than five days from now to give her asylum status
and
send her on to a third country.
Al-Qunun now says she feels safe - despite the arrival in the Thailand of
her father, who's a senior Saudi
government official.
Her
case has once again brought international attention
to the kingdom, and the obstacles
that women face there.