Victims under the Qatari throne: Policy of repression and abuse governs a nation of lawlessness

Shaimaa Yahya

The Qatari regime is characterized by repression and deterioration as a result of its behaviors, as thousands of Qataris are subjected to widespread violations in the regime’s prisons, which are witnessing the worst forms of torture against opponents, who stand in front of the Qatari approach adopted in support of subversive and terrorist groups.

With the International Human Rights Day on December 10, the Qatari record was marked by many violations in the field of human rights, and the Qatari government remained totally disregarding international condemnations regarding the human rights of Qataris or foreign expatriate workers, as it does not care to provide any humanitarian care, as well as its sponsorship of terrorism at the regional and international level.

Arbitrary arrests

The Qatari regime was not satisfied with adopting a repressive policy, after which the situation has deteriorated sharply. This policy has affected the sons of the Qatari ruling house, those who reject the policies, and who have openly criticized the ruling regime, in addition to the lack of equality and granting the Turks and others Qatari nationality, and those affected by Qatari repression, Sheikh Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Thani, who was arbitrarily sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, was arrested under a mechanism of torture and abuse inside the prisons of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad.

Despite the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the measures taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic, some governments that keep prisoners, including the Qatari government, have excluded human rights defenders from the measures taken in this regard and continued to arbitrarily arrest activists and opponents.

On March 25, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged all countries to release everyone detained without adequate legal basis, including political prisoners and those arrested due to opposing critical views, as part of the response to the Covid-19 virus.

Lisa Maracani, a researcher on human rights defenders at Amnesty International, expressed that the corona virus was an additional punishment for human rights defenders who were unjustly imprisoned, and it was also used as a pretext for further harassment and prosecution, and even exposure to killings, as the exception of human rights defenders from the release procedures it confirms the political nature of their imprisonment.

The authorities have sought to monitor citizens, and freedom of expression has been subjected to restrictions in law and reality under broad powers. Article 19 of Law No. 3 of 2004 on combating terrorism stipulates that the authorities grant broad powers to conduct surveillance by any means for a period of 90 days before any judicial review.

Qatari fraud

Some reports revealed the violations committed by the Qatari emirate against citizens. The Arab human rights Maat Foundation issued a report on the violations of the right of the members of the Qatari Al-Ghufran tribe, as the state expelled most of them outside the country, and hundreds of them were admitted to Qatari prisons, in addition to issuing decisions to deprive them It is their natural right to own property or engage in any political activity.

The Qatari regime tried to circumvent the eyes that see it in the world regarding human rights issues, through the veil of human rights platforms and fake charitable institutions that sought to cover up the black faults of the system in this context.

Qatar exploits these associations and institutions as arms to spread terrorism and generalize it in the Middle East, and a number of European countries, and the Qatar Charity association comes primarily to the Qatari state as a cover for what falls under the name of terrorist acts and their financing, such as the militants and the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, and the Al-Shabaab group in Somalia, as well as organizing Ansar al-Sharia in Libya and financing the Shiite Hezbollah in Iraq.

Many Arab and international governmental organizations have called on the international community to prosecute Doha for violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations charters, which stipulate that governments provide effective protection for human rights defenders, and that they guarantee safety from those who try to exploit them to silence their voices.