Torture and physical abuse – Qatar punishes those who speak out about human rights violations
The family of a citizen in Qatar said: Detained after reporting irregularities and raising concerns about the abuse of migrant workers at World Cup stadiums, where he was tortured on the eve of the tournament, human rights organization FairSquare also released a letter from the family of Abdullah Abjais, a former media director at the Supreme Committee of Qatar, accusing FIFA of “callous indifference” for ignoring his case.
FairSquare called on the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to intervene in the hope that Abjais will be released from a three-year prison sentence.
Callous Distress
The Guardian, a UK newspaper, saw the letter in which the Abgais family said: He spent four days “in total darkness in solitary confinement after being physically assaulted” as punishment for his contribution to last month’s ITV documentary “Qatar: State of Fear?”. “He was already suffering from several bruises after being attacked by prison guards and was shaking all the time, as the cold air directed at him did not stop, and he barely fell asleep during the four days he spent in solitary confinement,” his family said.
He says he was jailed after raising concerns that the Supreme Committee intended to deny World Cup workers participating in a 4,000-6,000-person strike in Doha. He says 200 workers were found at the Education City Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium with no drinking water and have not been paid for four months. However, Qatari authorities insist that Abjais, who was fired in 2019, was sentenced on fraud charges related to a World Cup social media content contract, but Fair Square objects, saying he was forced to confess and denied a fair trial.
Ignore FIFA
Nicholas McGeehan of Versquare said that Abjais went to FIFA before his arrest, adding: “He was texting the members of the FIFA human rights team directly,” however, “they just disappeared at some point.”
According to the British newspaper, the Abjais’ family has directly criticized FIFA in their letter. The statement said: “We, the family of Abdullah Abjais, are the FIFA club and its president, Gianni Infantino, who once said the World Cup is the voice of the marginalized. Your actions have not lived up to your words. FIFA is complicit in Abdullah’s prison. FIFA’s silence tears our family apart. We reject FIFA’s callous indifference, and we refuse to back down.”
