Australian women on Qatar flight internally examined

[I love to travel]

I am getting angrier as the day wears on. What a shame our government could not get on the front foot and show some moral leadership but instead only made comments after the media broke the story.

 

[JessicaTam]

[mod hat]
A number of off topic posts have been removed.

Stick to the topic please.
[/mod hat]

 

[get me outta here]

I entirely agree and feel the same. If I was on that flight with a teenage daughter I would have been further than ropable and screamed blue murder and then probably hauled off to their clink for non compliance to sexual assault.
However, I guess the govt needs to check international law on the topic. Moral leadership, ha!
I do wonder how long the feds have known about it though.

I am getting angrier as the day wears on. What a shame our government could not get on the front foot and show some moral leadership but instead only made comments after the media broke the story.

 

[get me outta here]

The world needs to hit them where it hurts, and then after that, in the cash income department.

I hate that I have to visit the UAE to see my son. His choice to live there, but all the comments about the lack of women's rights in the ME are spot on. My daughter is married to a lovely woman, and they will not visit him there for obvious reasons. I had not considered using Qatar because of the inability to get from Doha to anywhere else in the ME because of the boycotts, but I definitely would not fly via Doha now. I understand that it was the airport authorities not the airline that did this obscene invasion of privacy, but in reality both of those are just arms of the Qatari government, and we need to get the message across somehow.

 

[Pushka]

I am getting angrier as the day wears on. What a shame our government could not get on the front foot and show some moral leadership but instead only made comments after the media broke the story.

It’s hard to know the timeline. The women were in quarantine for 2 weeks. We don’t know if there were language issues and not all of them may have wanted to discuss it. There is an ongoing enquiry. Facts have to be obtained. It does take time considering this is a rather major international issue.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Will never fly Qatar or transit Doha ever again.

+1

I'll never ever set foot on a QR plane or transit through Doha again.

If my employer wants me to travel via the ME, l'll remind them of 'Duty of Care' laws, and avoid Qatar at all costs.

 

[Scr77]

I’m surprised that this report hasn’t brought more incidents to light.

 

[tgh]

All this (confected??) hysteria completely ignores the reality that females are sexually humiliated (by our standards) daily in countries with a particular religious faith.
So y'all want to ban Qatar now.. but a year ago they were just wonderful ?

This is nothing new.. all this noise because it has just happened to us… nobody cares when it happens to them.
Female subjugation is ok as long as it's not our females ?

Many of us have flown with airlines that inculcate social and sexual mores repugnant to our culture.
We have turned left, enjoyed our shower and in the process.. supported regimes that brutalise humans of both sexes as a matter of course.

 

[madrooster]

Completely appalling on multiple fronts. I have placed a stop-sell on QR in response to this incident - there's many other carriers who are far more deserving of a traveller's hard earned money right now.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

tgh - there are some things you can't say on a public forum or you will get banned...

 

[DC3]

.... There is an ongoing enquiry. Facts have to be obtained. It does take time considering this is a rather major international issue.

Apparently happened on 2nd. I would expect our government to come out with something concrete.

 

[flydoc]

I do wonder how long the feds have known about it though.

“Senator Payne, who is also Minister for Women, said she was expecting a report on the incident from the Qatari Government this week.
Senator Payne declined to elaborate further until she had seen the report, but did say the Government was informed of the matter when it occurred on October 2.”

'Nowhere to run': Women strip-searched in Qatar after baby found in bathroom say they were locked in ambulance

An Australian woman strip-searched by authorities at a Qatari airport after a premature baby was found in a bathroom says she is considering legal action over the "terrifying" experience.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Mrsfefe]

'I was absolutely terrified': Australian witness recounts Qatar strip-search ordeal

Kim Mills was one of nine women taken off a Qatar Airways flight in Doha, and the only one not to be strip-searched as authorities hunted the mother of an abandoned newborn baby

www.theguardian.com

Further details from one of the women involved.

Absolutely terrifying experience.

And a completely unnecessary way to obtain the information they were looking for. Could have done swabs, blood tests, even used an ultrasound, none of which requires intimidation to remove ones underwear in front of complete strangers in a foreign land that you were merely transiting through, when you had done absolutely nothing wrong. Barbaric.

That’s how you examine post natal camels, not women.

 

[Princess Fiona]

All this (confected??) hysteria completely ignores the reality that females are sexually humiliated (by our standards) daily in countries with a particular religious faith.
So y'all want to ban Qatar now.. but a year ago they were just wonderful ?

This is nothing new.. all this noise because it has just happened to us… nobody cares when it happens to them.
Female subjugation is ok as long as it's not our females ?

Many of us have flown with airlines that inculcate social and sexual mores repugnant to our culture.
We have turned left, enjoyed our shower and in the process.. supported regimes that brutalise humans of both sexes as a matter of course.

There is nothing confected about being horrified that passengers in transit through DOH were taken off an aircraft and subjected to coughl examinations against their will.
It’s absolutely abhorrent, and actions like this should rightly be called out whatever the color, creed or race of the victims.

 

[DC3]

Confected? Or, covfefe?

 

[tgh]

There is nothing confected about being horrified that passengers in transit through DOH were taken off an aircraft and subjected to coughl examinations against their will.
It’s absolutely abhorrent, and actions like this should rightly be called out whatever the color, creed or race of the victims.

Indeed.. I agree with your last sentence 100%.. but why call it out now and make a big fuss just because "our own" have been affected.
Why has everyone (Including moi) been happy to turn a blind eye and ignore the Middle East abuse of human rights that has been happening for a very long time.
Last time I flew long haul, I flew Emirates and told everyone I was a hypocrite for doing so….

 

[get me outta here]

So, how long do we wait for a report back from Qatar...

“Senator Payne, who is also Minister for Women, said she was expecting a report on the incident from the Qatari Government this week.
Senator Payne declined to elaborate further until she had seen the report, but did say the Government was informed of the matter when it occurred on October 2.”

'Nowhere to run': Women strip-searched in Qatar after baby found in bathroom say they were locked in ambulance

An Australian woman strip-searched by authorities at a Qatari airport after a premature baby was found in a bathroom says she is considering legal action over the "terrifying" experience.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Pushka]

So, how long do we wait for a report back from Qatar...

I heard by the end of this week. But who knows.

So y'all want to ban Qatar now.. but a year ago they were just wonderful ?

And Qatar are still a fabulous airline, it's the issue of Doha transit that is the problem. And on the Issue of human rights, many countries, including Australia, dont have a clean slate on that score.

Confected Outrage? Those are words best not said on this topic.

 

[Pushka]

So y'all want to ban Qatar now.. but a year ago they were just wonderful ?

And Qatar are still a fabulous airline, it's the issue of Doha transit that is the problem. And on the Issue of human rights, many countries, including Australia, dont have a clean slate on that score.

Confected Outrage? Those are words best not said on this topic.

 

[davidj]

No need to wait for a government ban, how about vote with your wallet?

The challenge is transiting and supporting a country with a completely clean record on human rights and woman's issues. Unfortunately it means picking the lesser evil between say, QR/EK/EY and CX/SQ/MH [Insert airline here]...