newspaper revealedTimesThe British newspaper, on Thursday, revealed details of the “mysterious” death of a British director who had previously worked for Qatar Airways and was held by Qatari security for several days.
Mark Bennett, 52, was found hanged in a Doha hotel during the 2019 Christmas holidays, ten weeks after he was arrested in a Qatar Airways office and taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a security detention center. of the state.
The newspaper says Bennett later talked about the torture methods he was subjected to during the three-week detention period, including stripping him of his clothes, spraying him with water using high-pressure hoses, banging his head against walls, and exposing him to the public. sleep deprivation techniques.
UN lawyers say there are “credible allegations” of extrajudicial detention and ill-treatment at the facility where he was held.
The newspaper notes that Bennett was barred from leaving Qatar after his release and did not know if he was facing charges and feared a new arrest, according to his family.
The newspaper adds that Qatari authorities announced that Bennett’s death was the result of a suicide, but the British coroner confirmed that “there is no specific evidence of suicidal intent” and that “the circumstances of the previous months his death are not yet clear. “
Bennett did not leave a farewell note and did not send emails or text messages on the phone to his friends or family about it. The newspaper says that the night before his death he made a video call with his wife and children and during this he laughed and joked.
The newspaper said the British Foreign Office dismissed the case last September despite concerns from the family and the coroner, just a week after Liz Truss became foreign minister.
He added that the following month Terrace visited Qatar to initiate a “strategic dialogue” and initiate “deeper cooperation in the areas of security, development, trade and investment”.
Last May, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, met with Boris Johnson to announce a £ 10 billion investment package in Britain.
Bennett left Thomas Cook Tourism to become vice president of Discover Qatar, a subsidiary of the state-owned Qatar Airways group, in 2017.
His work has focused on modernizing the country’s tourism sector, with former colleagues saying they have worked closely with Akbar al-Baker, managing director of Qatar Airways and director of London Heathrow airport, of which Qatar owns 20%, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper notes that Bennett’s arrest occurred in October 2019 after he resigned from his position in the Qatari company, against the backdrop of obtaining a job offer at a Saudi travel company, adding that one of the his former colleagues said Bennett’s resignation was considered a “great insult” to Qataris.
The newspaper reported that Qatar Airways said it discovered that Bennett was sending “top secret documents” to a private email address as soon as he resigned and informed the police of this.
The Qatari authorities did not respond to questions from The Times newspaper on the matter, while the British foreign ministry only claimed to have provided “assistance to the family of a British man after his death in Doha”.
The newspaper revealed that Qatari authorities refused to enter a UN mission to investigate human rights violations in Qatar in the center where Bennett was detained in 2019.
He added that lawyers from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention were in Qatar to inspect prisons and detention centers from November 3-14.
According to the newspaper, Bennett was released abruptly on November 2 and registered in a Doha hotel without any documents relating to his arrest or any legal proceedings against him.
The group said they were barred from visiting a state security detention center after receiving complaints of detentions without judicial scrutiny and ill-treatment of detainees.
Additionally, when the team visited other detention sites, they found these facilities nearly empty and received reliable reports of inmates being transferred to other facilities prior to the UN team’s arrival.
The newspaper quoted a British businessman who previously worked in Qatar as saying that “whether you are a Pakistani worker or a wealthy British man, you will be treated like garbage if the boss turns against you.”
“It’s like you’re a slave … you can’t even leave the country for the weekend without your employer’s permission,” he added.
Since winning the honor of organizing the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has come under a lot of criticism, especially regarding the rights of foreign workers.
Doha says it has made significant improvements in recent years, including imposing a minimum wage and loosening many aspects of the sponsorship system that has empowered employers over workers’ rights to change jobs and even leave. the country.
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