Australian women finally opens up about her horrific experience at the Qatar airport

In most media reports Qatar has been termed as a dangerous country to visit for any purpose and it becomes even more dangerous for western women, who are mostly unknown to the environment of the gulf country. 

In recent days, one such incident highlighted the brutality that people and specifically women face in the country. A group of women which included as many as 13 Australian women was assaulted by Qatari authorities making the visit their worst nightmare. 

One of the women came forward and spoke to a digital platform called 60 minutes Australia where she described the horrendous incident that happened to her. A nurse by profession, the woman who belonged from Victoria, Australia told that even if she feels uncomfortable sharing her story she will do it to warn people. 

Her story began as she boarded her flight from a national airport in the Middle East. She was unknown to the fact that a baby of a few hours was found in the garbage and the Qataru police made all the women in the airport stand on a pedestal. Thereafter these Australian women were surrounded by men holding a ton of arms and ammunition making them even more confused about the situation they were stuck in. 

Later they were taken for physical examination and it was as brutal as one can imagine. They were not told about what was being done to them nor the authorities had their consent for the physical examination. The people who have captured these women did not even speak English making it even more difficult to communicate. 

Top diplomats and the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison condemned the disgraceful act saying that not just Australian women but no women should be subjected to such a practice.

The women shared that due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were not a lot of flights from London, where she along with her husband lived, back to Australia. So she booked a ticket on Qatar Airways which required her to attend a layover at the Doha International Airport. It did not matter that much to the couple. 

She revealed that after the stop, they again boarded the flight only to have waited for three hours inside the airplane doing nothing and waiting for the flight to take off. They suddenly hear a male voice asking all the female passengers to come out along with their passports without specifying the need and anything that would make these women at ease. 

After repeatedly asking and not knowing where she was being taken, she could only see an ambulance in front of her. It was later when she got to hear from a female inside the ambulance that ‘a baby has been found in a bin and we need to trust you.’ She was then asked to lie down and take off her clothes. The woman said that she did not understand what was happening to her and then she was in a bizarre sequence of incidents and asked to remove her underpants. 

The incident has been termed as a sexual offense. Another person who is deeply aware of this atrocity done to the Qatari women by the Qatari authorities was very disturbing. Some even went on to the extent to call being born as a woman a criminal.

It was commendable how the women made the courage to come up and share her experience even after she was scared to tell her story. She helped in warning the people how Qatar and Qatari authorities play gimmicks of hosts but in reality, they are far away from it.