Australian women on Qatar flight internally examined

[Mrsfefe]

Australians among women subjected to 'offensive' examinations after newborn found in Qatar airport bathroom

The Australian Government expresses "serious concerns" with Qatar after several passengers on board a flight from Doha to Sydney were reportedly subjected to an invasive internal examination.

mobile.abc.net.au

Reported today on several news outlets.

Utterly horrific. Totally inexcusable. Can’t imagine the distress.

Surely DNA cheek swabs could have been used instead if they were that suspicious.

Will never fly Qatar or transit Doha ever again.

 

[jenib]

Australians among women subjected to 'offensive' examinations after newborn found in Qatar airport bathroom

The Australian Government expresses "serious concerns" with Qatar after several passengers on board a flight from Doha to Sydney were reportedly subjected to an invasive internal examination.

mobile.abc.net.au

Reported today on several news outlets.

Utterly horrific. Totally inexcusable. Can’t imagine the distress.

Surely DNA cheek swabs could have been used instead if they were that suspicious.

Will never fly Qatar or transit Doha ever again.

I read that too and agree. Appalling. I don't care how good their product is if this can happen.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Picking up on a discussion from a couple of days ago as to why Qantas planes were chartered to bring home stranded Aussies rather than using existing flights... seems the government may have had some information we were unaware of: Women reportedly searched on tarmac in Qatar after premature baby found in airport bathroom

This is deeply disturbing news. I feel for the passengers involved. Glad we have an Australian carrier to bring others home, safely.

 

[dajop]

This is deeply disturbing news. I feel for the passengers involved. Glad we have an Australian carrier to bring others home, safely.

Although, to be fair to other non-Australian carriers, Australians have been coming home from Europe for half a century or more via places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which are by and large not liberal democracies, yet I can’t recall anything remotely like this happening. Yes some drug smugglers have been caught, convicted and executed transiting through some of those. But not aware of innocent women being subjected to this sort of medieval ordeal.

Also, let’s not forget Qantas is not holier than though. Just 3 or 4 years ago, returning from Europe all the way on an Australian carrier meant transiting the Middle East too. And whilst DXB is more liberal than DOH, they also have some pretty draconian laws!

 

[Pushka]

Agree. I can't imagine that experience. Totally degrading and the power that Doha officials have in forcing women to have this examination is unimaginable. I love Qatar but must think twice next time. "Concerned for the Health and Welfare of the mother" my a**

 

[get me outta here]

I can’t imagine sitting in a plane and being told that all the women only must disembark - nor were they told anything.
It would’ve been almost terrifying as to what was happening, (seeing as women esp have few human rights there).
Then what happened next is reprehensible. I too will not ever go via DOH again. This is a serious International human rights issue which affected all planes at the airport.
I wonder how many planes were there.
If they had found the mother, what would’ve happened to her.
Remember, if you are sexually attacked in the ME you are likely to be put in jail.

 

[Mattg]

For this to happen without the women’s consent is an appalling violation of human rights. It makes me feel sick.

I recall calls to boycott United Airlines after a doctor was forcibly dragged off a plane. This is worse.

I realise this would have happened at the instruction of the Qatari authorities, rather than Qatar Airways, but the airline is owned by the Qatari government and flying with their airline requires you to transit through Doha. If this is something that can be allowed to happen there, this very much affects the airline too (and all the other airlines flying there - although Qatar is the only one flying there from Australia and is by far the largest player in that market).

Over the last few months, Qatar Airways has been trying to position itself as the de-facto national carrier while Qantas has halted all international flights. This incident sadly undoes a lot of that work and is hugely damaging to the airline’s brand. Qatar’s reputation will take a very long time to recover in Australia (and, frankly, the Western world) unless:

(a) it provides a clear explanation of what happened
(b) those responsible are held to account
(c) an unreserved apology is issued
(d) there is an assurance that this can never happen again.

I doubt most of these things will be forthcoming...

 

[UP4014]

For this to happen without the women’s consent is an appalling violation of human rights. It makes me feel sick.

I recall calls to boycott United Airlines after a doctor was forcibly dragged off a plane. This is worse.

I realise this would have happened at the instruction of the Qatari authorities, rather than Qatar Airways, but the airline is owned by the Qatari government and flying with their airline requires you to transit through Doha. If this is something that can be allowed to happen there, this very much affects the airline too (and all the other airlines flying there - although Qatar is the only one flying there from Australia and is by far the largest player in that market).

Over the last few months, Qatar Airways has been trying to position itself as the de-facto national carrier while Qantas has halted all international flights. This incident sadly undoes a lot of that work and is hugely damaging to the airline’s brand. Qatar’s reputation will take a very long time to recover in Australia (and, frankly, the Western world) unless:

(a) it provides a clear explanation of what happened
(b) those responsible are held to account
(c) an unreserved apology is issued
(d) there is an assurance that this can never happen again.

I doubt most of these things will be forthcoming...

Agree, your four points need answers and the one thing the Qatari Govt and airline will not do is supply answers to these questions.

 

[Robert K]

Not sure why people are so surprised and upset that something like this happened. This is the Middle East we’re talking about. And I can see this happening in a number of other draconian countries.

I haven’t flown any of the ME3 airlines because I don’t agree with how they treat human beings.

their human rights violations aren’t exactly a secret, but it seems that a nice plane cabin, some caviar and fancy lounge is enough to distract people to forget about that.

 

[get me outta here]

It is more utter outrage rather than “surprise”.
Although you may be right that pax have short memories when it comes to self interest, the post still feels like an insult.

Not sure why people are so surprised and upset that something like this happened. This is the Middle East we’re talking about. And I can see this happening in a number of other draconian countries.

I haven’t flown any of the ME3 airlines because I don’t agree with how they treat human beings.

their human rights violations aren’t exactly a secret, but it seems that a nice plane cabin, some caviar and fancy lounge is enough to distract people to forget about that.

 

[DC3]

Picking up on a discussion from a couple of days ago as to why Qantas planes were chartered to bring home stranded Aussies rather than using existing flights... seems the government may have had some information we were unaware of: Women reportedly searched on tarmac in Qatar after premature baby found in airport bathroom

This is deeply disturbing news. I feel for the passengers involved. Glad we have an Australian carrier to bring others home, safely.

Women being searched is putting it mildly.

 

[Nathant123]

These muslim countries unsurprisingly have a pretty bad track record for women's rights unfortunately. Australian officials can flap their gums all they want, nothing will come of the investigation as according to their laws and customs, no doubt they've done nothing wrong.

 

[MARTINE]

I can assure you I will never fly QATAR. This is appalling.

 

[get me outta here]

The heading is now updated :

Women on flight from Qatar to Australia reportedly internally examined on tarmac after premature baby found in Doha airport bathroom

Australians among women subjected to 'offensive' examinations after newborn found in Qatar airport bathroom

The Australian Government expresses "serious concerns" with Qatar after several passengers on board a flight from Doha to Sydney were reportedly subjected to an invasive internal examination.

www.abc.net.au

Women being searched is putting it mildly.

 

[Guvner]

If the Fed Govt really cared about the rights of our citizens then they would ban Qatar Airways from this country until a full and formal apology, and compensation paid to the affected women for the distress, was received. Qantas, with all their huff and puff about equal rights, should remove themselves from any alliance with Qatar.
Of course, none of this will happen.

 

[Daver6]

This will certainly make me reconsider flying QR again. To think this could have happened to MrsDaver6 on one of our many transits through DOH makes me sick.

What is so ridiculous is they could have just used security footage to see who went in and out of the bathroom in question. One can only assume this happened to all women on all flights around the this time as well as all female workers at the airport. I hope a class action law suit is taken against the airline and airport and they're made to pay heavily.

An example of how backwards some aspects of the culture is that last year on a flight from SYD-DOH (in J), MrsDaver6 was feeling quite nauseas. The cabin crew were great, but wouldn't give her any medication until they checked her temperature with a forehead thermometer. The CSM asked my permission if it was ok to touch MrsDaver6's forehead to take her temperature. I told him that he's asking the wrong person permission

 

[get me outta here]

Good interview with Amnesty International on ABC Radio National.

 

[MARTINE]

QANTAS make a stand against QATAR ... I don’t think so. Let’s examine the past QANTAS advocated yes to gay marriage (which I fully supported) whilst it’s illegal in QATAR to even be gay..gold standard cognitive dissonance .. ! I feel so sad about the experiences of those poor women - and the Qataris who may have to put up with this treatment. That could have been me or my daughter. Horrific. I hope they get access to good mental health support and assistance (and an apology with compensation)... again the latter unlikely

 

[Mattg]

If the Fed Govt really cared about the rights of our citizens then they would ban Qatar Airways from this country until a full and formal apology, and compensation paid to the affected women for the distress, was received.

This must be quite a dilemma for the Australian government. Banning Qatar Airways is probably the only way to get them to take much notice. At the same time, they are one of the few airlines continuing to bring back Australians from overseas. If the airline got banned, thousands of Australians won't get home by Christmas (unless the government paid to put on more charter flights or drastically increased arrival caps to compensate).

Like you, I don't think this will happen.

 

[Guvner]

This must be quite a dilemma for the Australian government. Banning Qatar Airways is probably the only way to get them to take much notice. At the same time, they are one of the few airlines continuing to bring back Australians from overseas. If the airline got banned, thousands of Australians won't get home by Christmas (unless the government paid to put on more charter flights/drastically increased arrival caps to compensate).

Like you, I don't think this will happen.

Well, there's a big world class airline with a Kangaroo on the tail which has a heap of long haul planes sitting around doing nothing. Amazing what can be achieved if you really want to make it happen.