Joint statement to show Qatar fake in Human rights in Geneva

CAIRO - 12 September 2017: The Arab Federation for Human Rights (AFHR), the Arab Organization for Human Rights in UK and the Global Campaign Against Qatari Financing of Terrorism condemned on Monday the inaccuracies, omissions and falsehoods of the Qatari foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, through his speech at the 36th session of Human Rights Watch in Geneva.

The Qatari Foreign Minister exploited the human rights platform to escape from the human rights violations of his state’s regime.

Al-Thani also exploited the human rights session to claim that his state runs within international law frames and cooperates with international institutions through fruitless and empty phrases to divert attention from large-scale violations in Qatar.

Qatar is one of the states violating the rights of migrant workers the most, as they do not have proper medical care, so there must be international action to rescue these workers and obligate Qatar to stop these violations.

On Thursday, AFHR urgently called on the international community to pressure Qatar to maintain the physical sanctity of detainees and to address systematic torture in the gulf country.

AFHR made this urgent appeal after getting information regarding the severe torture of a Qatari pilgrim, Hamad Abdul Hadi Al-Azhar Al-Kahla Al-Marri, by security personnel upon his return from performing his religious rites. Hamad Abdul Hadi was arrested and interrogated by Qatari security officers after his return from Hajj. He was severely beaten and ill-treated, and he was made to confess under torture as recorded in a video and seen on a picture.

The use of torture is against international human rights principles and treaties to which Qatar is apart, such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Article 2 of the convention prohibits torture and requires state parties to take effective measures to prevent it in any territory under their jurisdiction. This prohibition is absolute and non-derogable. “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever” may be invoked to justify torture, including internal political instability, public emergency, terrorist acts or violent crime.

AFHR is urgently appealing to the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council in its new session No. 36 and to the U.N. Special Reporter against torture, as well as the Committee Against Torture (CAT), to investigate on this and other allegations of torture carried out by Qatari state security.

The federation expressed its condemnation of the frequent manifestations of torture, whether inside detention centers or inside Qatari prisons, which confirm that the culture of violence and the extraction of confessions still exist and are in force in Qatar.

The Arab Federation for Human Rights is demanding that all those found guilty of using torture in Qatar should be held accountable in order to ensure the rule of law and the absence of impunity.

AFHR is also calling on the Qatari government to recognize its obligations under international human rights laws and to immediately stop the use of torture and any degrading form of treatment.

AFHR affirms the necessity of reforming the security and prison system in the state of Qatar, so that the agents are committed to respect the law and not to slip into systematic violations.