Marise Payne condemns Qatar airport strip search incident
A woman says she was “lucky” to escape a “terrifying” strip-search ordeal forced upon a dozen other Australian women in Qatar.
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An Australian woman has described the “terrifying” moment she was ordered off a Sydney bound Qatar Airlines plane to an ambulance where authorities strip searched passengers without their consent.
Australian Kim Mills was ultimately spared because of her age but said other younger Australian women were left distraught by the ordeal at Hamad International Airport on October 2.
“They told me to step forward, to go into the ambulance, and as I stepped forward another officer came round and stood in front of me and said: ‘No, no, you go, you go’,” she told Guardian Australia.
“I was the luckiest one on the whole flight because I have grey hair and I’m in my 60s. They probably looked at me and thought well, that’s impossible, it could not be her.”
Ms Mills tried to help women emerging from the ambulances who were “crying and distraught”.
“I said, ‘What’s wrong, what’s going on?’ And she told me that they’d found a baby in the bathroom at the airport and they were examining all the women,” she said.
The Australian Federal Police is assessing all available information and engaging with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
It is illegal to have sex outside marriage in Qatar. If a single woman is found pregnant, she could be jailed, deported or physically punished in extreme circumstances.
An airport spokeswoman said the newborn, originally reported to be dead, was found “abandoned” in a terminal bathroom and was provided with medical care.
She said people who had “access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn was found were asked to assist” authorities attempting to trace the mother
The baby remains in the care of medical staff and social workers in Doha.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Monday said Australia wanted answers after the “grossly, grossly, disturbing, offensive” incident
Ms Payne spoke directly with Qatari ambassador Saad Abdulla Saad Al Mahmoud Al Shareef on Monday afternoon to reiterate Australia’s serious concerns.
“I want to see the report of what occurred at the airport,” she said.
The airline at the centre of the searches is also under fire for mistreating the family of an Australian toddler killed in the August Beruit blast.
Isaac Oehlers’ grieving parents booked to fly home before the blast but when they tried to change to an earlier flight after their son’s death Qatar Airways refused.
The family flew with another airline, and two months after asking for a refund they were told they could access their money if they returned to Beruit to apply in person.
“Qatar Airways actually asked us to return to the place of Isaac’s death while we’re grieving,” Isaac’s father Craig said earlier this month.
A refund was paid after the family spoke publicly about their treatment.
QATARI STRIP SEARCH “TERRIFYING”
An Australian woman has detailed the ‘terrifying’ incident at a Qatari airport where authorities forced female passengers to undertake a humiliating medical exam in their search for the mother of an abandoned premature baby.
Kim Mills has told Guardian Australia she was one of the nine women taken off a Qatar Airways flight at the Hamad International Airport as authorities searched for the mother of a premature baby abandoned in a terminal bathroom.
Ms Mills said she was led off the plane, due to depart for Sydney, and taken to a dark carpark area where three ambulances were stationed waiting to perform medical examinations to see if any female passengers had recently given birth.
She believes she was the only woman not subjected to a physical examination.
“They told me to step forward, to go into the ambulance, and as I stepped forward another officer came round and stood in front of me and said: ‘No, no, you go, you go’,” she told the Guardian.
“I was the luckiest one on the whole flight because I have grey hair and I’m in my 60s. They probably looked at me and thought well, that’s impossible, it could not be her.”
Ms Mills said she saw a young woman come out of an ambulance who was “crying and distraught”.
“I said, ‘What’s wrong, what’s going on?’ And she told me that they’d found a baby in the bathroom at the airport and they were examining all the women,” she said.
Australia has demanded a full investigation of the “grossly, grossly, disturbing, offensive” incident at the Qatari airport.
Thirteen Australian women were pulled from planes at the Hamad International Airport in Doha and forced onto ambulances on the tarmac after the infant was discovered in a terminal toilet.
The women were on flight QR908 bound for Sydney when the incident occurred on October 2, with the flight landing the next day.
The women were allegedly subjected to a humiliating search, including a visual examination of their genitalia and having their abdomens touched.
It is understood none of the women were told why the search was occurring, and consent was not obtained. They were not given an option to avoid the search.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne will speak directly with Qatari ambassador Saad Abdulla Saad Al Mahmoud Al Shareef on Monday afternoon to reiterate Australia’s serious concerns about the incident.
The Daily Telegraph understands Ms Payne will press Qatar to finalise its investigation urgently and hand in a report to Australia by the end of this week.
Ms Payne first raised her concerns with the Qatari Ambassador on October 6.
She said the incident was not something she had “ever heard of occurring” in her life, “in any context”.
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“Australia has taken the occurrence seriously and taken up directly with Qatari authorities,” Ms Payne said.
“We have been liaising with both Qatari authorities here in Australia and in Doha.
Ms Payne said local authorities had been in contact with the 13 Australian women subjected to the search before being allowed to board their flight to Sydney.
She said the women were receiving care from the government while they were in hotel quarantine but would not release any details about them, including their ages or where they were form.
“Appropriate officials have been in contact with the Australians involved including health officials,” she said.
“They have been provided with appropriate support through the health process during that period.”
Ms Payne said the government was waiting for a report from Qatari authorities, confirming she believed inquiries were “still taking place” with people “affected by the occurrence”.
“We also understand that the matter has been reported to the AFP and that matter, anything further on that as a matter for the Federal Police to this is a grossly, grossly disturbing, offensive, concerning set of events,” she said.
Ms Payne said until she saw the report she would not comment on if Qatari law had been breached.
“This is an extraordinary incident,” she said.
“The airport at Doha I have used on many occasions and it obviously is a large international airport.
“I think we have made our concerns very clear to the Qatari authorities at this point, pending the arrival and availability of their report and I want to be confident that they are very well aware of our views of the matter.”
The baby is still alive, according to Qatari authorities.
“The newborn infant was immediately provided with medical attention and care,” an airport spokeswoman said.
“Medical professionals expressed concern to officials about the health and welfare of a mother who had just given birth and requested she be located prior to departing HIA.”
The spokeswoman said people who had “access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the query”.
“At this time, the newborn infant remains unidentified, but is safe under the professional care of medical and social workers,” she said.
Australia has no authority to launch a police investigation into the incident, but the issue is being handled at a government-to-government level by DFAT officials engaged with their Qatar counterparts.
Amnesty Australia International Director Samantha Klintworth told 7 News the incident was a “distressing and disturbing” ”gross violation” of the women‘s’ human rights.
“There needs to be a thorough and independent investigation and all of those involved need to be held to account,” she said.
Qatar Airways has been contacted for comment.
The airline has boasted of its COVID-19 safe credentials as one of the few international carriers to maintain consistent flights to Australian centres during the pandemic.
Qatar Airways has continued to bring Australians home to hotel quarantine in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney, as well as Melbourne prior to Victoria’s lockdown.
Originally published as Marise Payne condemns Qatar airport strip search incident
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