Qatar Prosecutes Airport Staff After Forced Intimate Exams Of Female Passengers

Qatar is going to prosecute several airport employees after female passengers had to undergo a mandatory internal examination earlier this month. The government apologized this week and announced an investigation into how this could have happened.

The incidents took place in an attempt to find out who the mother of a baby left behind at Doha Airport could have been. According to Qatar, the child was wrapped in plastic in a trash can and was “a clear attempt at murder”. The baby girl was able to get medical help on time.

However, the Qatari authorities went to great lengths to find the baby’s mother: before the departure of a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney, dozens of women of childbearing age had to be taken to an ambulance to be examined internally for signs of childbirth.

According to the Australian government, it has now become apparent that this has happened with female passengers on at least ten flights. It concerned women from Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, among others. Qatar now reports that this “violates standard procedures” and that those responsible are being prosecuted.