Because of the abuse… Hazzaa Al-marri, the icon of Al-Murrah protest in Qatar, is on hunger strike

Sheikh Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, has provoked a wave of anger inside Qatar after he approved a law to elect the Shura Council, in preparation for the first elections for the Council in the Gulf country, due to the violations and exclusion of some segments of society and spreading discrimination and racism.

Qatari citizens have inaugurated a hashtag under the slogan, “The people are boycotting the Shura Council elections” on social media, to announce their boycott of the elections, due to lack of transparency and corruption within the council, which is controlled by the men of the Emir of Qatar and his government, without taking into consideration the people’s right to express who they represent

The new law eliminates segments of society, the most important of which is the ancient Arab Al Murrah tribe in Qatar, which participated in establishing the country and supporting its founders, and deprived it of the right to run and vote, after their nationalities were forcibly withdrawn years ago. They consider themselves native Qataris who helped found the country with the ruling Al Thani family.

Prominent Qatari lawyer Hazzaa bin Ali Sharidat al-Athba al-Marri, an Al Murrah tribe, issued the speech after sending a video message to the Emir, asking him to reverse the decision to ban naturalized Qataris from running and voting. He said: Denying members of his tribe the right to run means that they are monarchs, he said, and that they would reject the decision even if they entered prisons.

Lawyer Hazzaa also took part in peaceful protests organized by the Al Murrah tribe in response to their exclusion from the legislative elections. He gave a speech in which he said: The government should release the detainees within a day’s notice,” said Sheikh Mohammed al-Thani, referring to a number of Qatari protesters who were arrested by security authorities for spreading false news and stirring up racial and tribal strife.

Qatar’s security authorities later arrested the lawyer after he emerged as an influential figure in protests organized by his tribe against their exclusion from the country’s first legislative elections. He was shown in a video climbing into the car of the security patrol that came to arrest him, while his supporters gathered around the car, trying to prevent his arrest.

He said via Twitter that security officers had arrived at his home to arrest him and that he would respond to their request without objection, adding: I have a criminal investigation in my house right now, they ask me to go with them and I will go fortified first by God, then by my tribesmen, the Almers, and the citizens, then the constitution and the law.

Days after his arrest, news broke of him going on a hunger strike to protest his ill-treatment inside the prison, informed sources said.

Human rights activist organizations have warned of what they describe as appalling conditions in Qatari prisons amidst a lack of fair trials for those accused or arbitrarily detained, as confirmed by former prisoners, who are beaten, tortured and ill-treated by guards and live in appalling conditions with no basic living conditions.

Hazzaa, a lawyer, had previously pleaded in a famous case concerning the right of naturalized citizens to acquire land. He had announced in early 2020 that he had received a first-instance ruling to overturn an administrative decision depriving a naturalized Qatari citizen of the land grant.

The government grants each Qatari citizen a 1,000-meter plot of land outside Doha, or 650 meters inside Doha, in addition to a bank loan with interest rates, in accordance with the country’s housing law.

The Housing Act, however, linked the access of a naturalized citizen to land by a decision of the Prime Minister, thereby depriving naturalized citizens of this right.

Lawyer Hazzaa said then: Thanks to God, we were able to obtain a previous ruling confirming that the administrative judge is a judge of legality. The decision was made to cancel the administrative decision issued which deprived the naturalized citizen of a piece of land, with all the consequences that this would have.