Member of ruling family in Qatar detained for political motives, his health is deteriorating: Lawyer

CAIRO -28 September 2020: American Fox News reported that concerns have been raised about the health of Sheikh Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani, a Doha-based businessman and the grandson of Qatar’s founding ruler, Ahmad bin Ali.

Asma Aryan, the wife of Al-Thani, has submitted petitions to UN bodies requiring interventions on her husband’s behalf. He was detained in 2013 and was initially given a five-year sentence but is presently serving 25 years.

The American lawyer for Sheikh Talal, Mark Somos, said that his client is being detained for political motives and not financial as claimed by Doha.

He added that Qatar’s arrest of Sheikh Talal Al-Thani contradicts Qatar’s claim of being a democracy, calling on the United Nations to pressure Doha to release Sheikh Talal Al-Thani, who is detained in its prisons.

Al-Thani's lawyer also confirmed he would continue his defense to secure his release.

According to the documents, Sheikh Talal was held for long periods in solitary confinement, was repeatedly threatened with his life, denied medical services, and treated inhumanly, which led to the development of diabetes, anxiety, and depression.

Somos said that future delegations from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention should request a visit with Sheikh Talal.

Fox News indicated that a human rights organization confirmed that the Qatari judiciary is not independent, and the Emir of Doha controls it.

Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, is striving to show his undemocratic country as a modern country that does not support terrorism, claiming there is no forced exploitation of workers, and Qatar does not practice human rights violations on a large scale, at a time when it prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Aryan, Talal's wife, said that the regime arbitrarily sentenced him in Qatar to 25 years in prison, and he was arrested upon his arrival in Qatar with a ruse to receive his father's inheritance.

Aryan also contacted the head of the Middle East department at the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, Muhammad al-Nsour, in Geneva, and handed him a complaint regarding the practices of the Qatari regime against her husband, and his family after his  arrest.

She confirmed that Nsour expressed his shock regarding the intransigency of the Qatari regime especially after she filed a complaint with the UN commission.

On her Twitter page, Aryan wrote: My name is Asma Aryan. I am married to Sheikh Talal bin Abdul Aziz bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, who has been arbitrarily detained in Qatar for more than seven years - years of suffering for me and my children.

"When his father passed away, my husband requested his inheritance from the government, because he is the grandson of the founder of Qatar, and the government promised to pay through commercial projects. Their projects proved to be bogus, as the Qatari government fabricated a series of charges against my husband," she added.

Aryan added that since her husband's arrest, without an arrest warrant, in February 2013, he has been denied a fair trial and access to his family, medical care, and legal aid.

He was arbitrarily sentenced for 22 years while he was in prison, under incommunicado detention, and suffering from serious health conditions due to the inhumane way he is receiving.

Moreover, Aryan's children were deprived of education anddecent housing. After her husband was arbitrarily arrested, Aryan said in a lecture organized by the Swiss Press Club that the Qatari regime had transferred her children to an unsuitable house flooded with water and insects and without air conditioning in a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius.

Sheikh Talal is the scion of a prominent branch of the ruling Al-Thani family of Qatar, as he is the grandson of Sheikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar who ruled the country between 1960 and 1972, when he was overthrown by his cousin, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, grandfather of the Emir Diameter Current, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa.