Qatar offered no direct explanation of how executives decided to conduct invasive vaginal examinations on the ladies.
Australia’s foreign minister announces 18 women, including 13 Australians, were constrained to Qatar Airways flight mandatory intimate examination.
“Apology” by Qatar Airways
Qatar’s administration has said it “regrets any discomfort or infringement on the personal liberty of any traveler” caused by a ruling to conduct intimate medical examinations of ladies.
This news appears as female passengers, checked, transiting through Doha International Airport.
Australia demands answers after women taken from Qatar Airways flight and strip-searched https://t.co/7MltdFHWLL
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) October 25, 2020
Consequently, what it declared was an “urgently-decided search” to discover an abandoned baby’s mother.
The rudimentary examination
On Wednesday morning, the Australian administration confirmed that 18 ladies on a flight from Doha to Sydney went through a mandatory medical examination. The list also includes 13 Australian residents.
Subsequently, travelers from 10 flights departing Doha on the evening of October 2 underwent the search.
The stands by both governments
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, called out the invasive treatment of the women. He further remarks it as “unacceptable” and “appalling.”
He also adds that his administration would “continue to take a very shrill approach” to seek answers and guarantee its lack of repetition in the future.
The Qatari administration broke its silence on Wednesday, three days after the episode became a global story.
It said the search went ahead for the discovery of a baby in a garbage can at Hamad International Airport, “covered in a plastic bag and concealed under garbage.”
“The baby girl, rescued from what seemed to be a shocking and appalling effort to kill her,” the report said. “The child is now safe in medical care in Doha.”
The reason behind the examination
This was the first case of an abandoned baby, discovered in such a condition at HIA.
Consequently, this is an extreme and life-threatening infringement of the law. This incident further triggers an immediate hunt for the parents.
The investigation also includes flights in the vicinity of the newborn’s location.
The urgently-decided examination aimed to stop the perpetrators of the shocking crime from escaping.
Consequently, the State of Qatar regrets any discomfort or infringement on the individual freedoms of any passenger caused by this procedure.
Morrison informed reporters in Canberra that passengers were entitled to move “free of those types of occurrences,” and Australia demanded to see the investigation outcomes very soon.
Not a shocking front for Qatar
Qatar’s history on women’s rights is under survey by human rights organizations. Among points of prejudice highlighted by Human Rights Watch is a penal code.
Consequently, the code “does not criminalize domestic violence or marital rape” and a private status law that says a “wife is liable for looking after the household and serving her husband.”
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