Burning in landfills: Doha’s way to get rid of foreign corona victims

Indiana Khaled

Suspicions have been circulating about some areas in Qatar being converted into mass graves where the bodies of foreign workers infected with the corona virus are burned, as eyewitnesses in the southern Mesaieed area have confirmed that they have smelled burning fire and black smoke rising from a landfill for days.

Activists on Twitter speculated that the strong smell may be the result of cremating the bodies of those infected with the corona virus, and they asked the authorities to issue an official statement clarifying the truth of the matter.

Saudi journalist Ali al-Maliki tweeted, “Our sources report that the Qatari regime burned more than 80 bodies of those who died due to infection with the corona virus near the landfill in Mesaieed, most of whom are foreigners.”

Government secrecy

In light of the government’s silence regarding the source of the smell, Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al Thani, cousin of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and an opponent of the regime, revealed that the government had cremated more than 80 bodies and buried them at the landfill in Mesaieed.

He added in another tweet that the bodies belonged to foreigners, whose embassies were informed that the bodies were buried in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

Sheikh Fahad pointed out that Doha is dealing with victims of the virus in the same ways as Turkey and Iran, adding that this is evidence that Qatar is part of the Iranian-Turkish axis.

On March 11, it was found that 238 foreign workers in Qatar were infected with the corona virus. They were staying in a residential complex in Doha’s Industrial Zone, an area that includes factories, warehouses and accommodation for foreign workers outside the capital. Since then, dozens of cases have been monitored.

Critical status

There is widespread panic and fear among foreign workers in Qatar in light of the poor economic and health situation in the country, as news reports revealed that there are hundreds of corona cases in the Industrial Zone.

Amnesty International reported on March 20 that foreign workers in Qatar’s labor camps are in serious danger due to the corona virus pandemic, noting that labor camps are severely overcrowded and lack adequate water and sanitation, which means that workers are inevitably less able to protect themselves from infection, especially as the close proximity of workers to each other in the cramped camps does not allow for any kind of social distancing.

Al-Arabiya channel reported on April 14 that there are more than two million foreign workers in Qatar, adding that the number of foreign workers has ballooned in recent years due to the construction of the infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.