A lately printed story exposes how a former Qatar Airways cabin crew member claims he was fired and deported for sporting tinted moisturizer throughout an evening out in Doha (because of @kq747 for flagging this). The main points surrounding this actually make me offended, and I can’t think about how disagreeable this complete expertise was.
Qatar Airways cabin crew accused of being homosexual prostitute
On Could 14, an Indonesian named Gilbert was celebrating his thirty second birthday in Doha, Qatar, with mates. He had labored as Qatar Airways cabin crew since 2016, and was having fun with dinner on the Mondrian Resort Doha, after which went out with afterwards to a lodge bar, round 11PM. When he took the under image with mates, little did he know that his life was about to alter…
In line with Gilbert, whereas the group was ready for his or her drinks to reach, a safety guard approached them, and acknowledged {that a} CID officer needed to talk to them. CID is Qatar’s Legal Investigation Division, which is a part of the police service. They had been then delivered to a non-public room behind the lodge. In line with Gilbert:
- With out consent, the officers wiped the faces of him and his pal with moist wipes, to take away the tinted moisturizer, and confiscated their telephones and ID playing cards
- When Gilbert and his pal requested to talk to the Indonesian embassy, the officer informed them that in the event that they refused to conform, they might be jailed
- Gilbert and his pal had been then delivered to the police station, and Gilbert claims that “the very first thing they requested me was, ‘how a lot do you earn each evening? How a lot for those who f*** him and the way a lot if he f*** you? I do know what you’re doing.’”
- With out proof, the officer accused Gilbert of prostitution, and the officer refused to consider that he had an Hermes bag and Hermes belt on a cabin crew’s wage; Gilbert defined that his dad and mom had been enterprise house owners in Indonesia, and he had no should be a prostitute
- The officer then slapped him, and when Gilbert once more requested to talk to the Indonesian embassy, he was informed “you haven’t any rights, that is Qatar”
- After going via Gilbert’s telephone, they discovered a photograph of him at Bangkok Delight, and tried to make use of that to counsel he was a homosexual prostitute
- The police pressured Gilbert to signal a letter written in Arabic, which he couldn’t learn, and likewise took fingerprints and mugshots
- The next day, Qatar Airways knowledgeable him that he was grounded; a few weeks later, Gilbert and his pal had been pushed to Abu Samra, the border publish close to Saudi Arabia, the place their passports had been handed over to the police, they usually had been informed that they had been being deported
- Gilbert was given no motive for why he was terminated from the airline
My tackle this Qatar deportation story
I discover tales like this to only be so deeply disappointing and unhappy. Each human is worthy of respect, and suffice it to say that this sort of remedy actually doesn’t present even a fundamental degree of human dignity.
Moreover, as a lot as some nations need to be in denial about it, there are homosexual folks in all places, together with Qatar. We’re all born a sure means, and simply because some folks may be closeted, doesn’t imply they aren’t homosexual.
Many Gulf nations try to diversify their economies by selling world tourism, with an “everyone seems to be welcome” mantra. For a overwhelming majority of holiday makers, all the pieces goes easily, and individuals are handled tremendous. However then for a small share of individuals, the expertise is totally completely different.
For instance, in 2020, Doha’s Hamad Airport made headlines, after girls on a flight to Australia had been strip searched, as a result of they needed to find out if anybody gave beginning. There was sufficient public outrage concerning this that the federal government ultimately apologized.
I’ve a lot extra I may say on this matter, and possibly I’ll save that for one more day. Do tales like this give me pause about visiting a rustic like Qatar? In fact. Nevertheless, I do suppose that is all an extremely complicated matter. If one had been to keep away from Qatar, would it not be over professional security issues, or on precept?
If it’s primarily based on professional security issues, how does one evaluate the chance of one thing like this occurring to the chance of getting shot in the USA, when our firearm murder charge is 77x greater than in Germany? If it’s primarily based on precept, the place does one draw the road? Ought to I not journey to Italy, because the nation strips again rights for same-sex dad and mom? Ought to I not journey to a state that’s limiting the reproductive selections of girls?
I’m not that means to get political right here, my level is solely to say that there are very actual security and moral issues right here. On the identical time, related points exist in a whole lot of locations.
Backside line
A former Qatar Airways cabin crew member claims he was fired from the airline and deported from the nation as a result of he wore tinted moisturizer on an evening out. In line with the person, the nation’s police stopped him at a bar, wiped his face, accused him of being a prostitute, slapped him, informed him he had no rights, and made him signal a paper he couldn’t learn.
Clearly it is a deeply disturbing story, primarily based on the main points that we all know. I can also’t say I’m terribly stunned. Most Gulf nations are completely nice when issues are going nicely, however when issues go unsuitable, they’ll go very unsuitable…
