Qatar

Qatar’s leading English independent news publication reports that its Qatar readers can no longer access its site, a development that could prove to be a fatal blow to free expression in the Gulf nation.

Qatar’s leading English independent news publication reports that its Qatar readers can no longer access its site, a development that could prove to be a fatal blow to free expression in the Gulf nation.

On May 5, the crew drove to Labor City, on the outskirts of Doha, to film the Workers Cup, a soccer tournament for migrant workers. Security officials ordered them to follow them to a nearby police station soon after they arrived.

Eleven regional and international civil society groups have penned a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama urging him to press for the release of all detained rights defenders across the Gulf region who are imprisoned solely due to their peaceful and legitimate human rights work.

Qatari poet Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb al-‘Ajami, imprisoned for nearly five years, has been pardoned and released. He was initially sentenced to life in prison because of his poetry.

Mohammed al-Ajami is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Doha, Qatar for the contents of his poetry.

BBC correspondent Mark Lobel and three crew members were arrested and interrogated by Qatari security officials while reporting on the human rights situation in Qatar in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup.

Florian Bauer, a sports reporter for leading German public broadcasters ARD and WDR, was arrested with his crew – a cameraman, a sound engineer and a driver – by Qatari state security police while filming foreign workers on building sites on 27 March.

The broad language of the Anti-Cybercrime Law could be used to restrict press freedom and impose prison sentences on journalists inside the country.

Journalist Gundev Ghimire, 36, and human rights worker Krishna Upadhyay, 52, both British-passport holders of Nepali origin, were in Qatar filming a documentary about the treatment of migrant Nepali workers in Qatar when they lost contact with friends.

“Objectively, it is an autocratic monarchy; not liberal, and certainly not democratic. Some space exists in Qatar for criticism of other regional governments, but not of the Doha regime itself,” says David Wearing, a PhD candidate and Gulf Expert at SOAS University in London.

Draconian restrictions have been imposed on freedoms of assembly and association in Qatar, where protests and political parties are completely banned – an extreme form of totalitarian repression that is rare even in the most oppressive countries in the world.

In a letter to the Qatari authorities, The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern regarding a new cybercrime bill which would restrict online expression on news websites and social media.

The life sentence handed down to poet Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami for a critical poem he wrote was reduced to fifteen years on 25 February 2013.

Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami is set to serve a life sentence in jail for writing poetry inspired by the Arab Spring that Qatari officials claim insulted the Emir.

The draft media law would be the first change to Qatar’s media laws since 2008. The provisions are loosely worded and would penalise any criticism of Qatar, its emir, and neighbouring governments.