Palace housekeeper: Qatari authorities threatened to kill me

CAIRO – 18 October 2017: Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani’s palace’ housekeeper, Sahar al- Sheikh, has revealed more details over the storming of Al-Thani’s house by the Qatari authorities on Thursday, in a brief interview with Sky News on Wednesday.
“A group of security members stormed the place and forced me to go with them. I was beaten, humiliated and abused,” Sheikh said.

She added that she was taken later to Hamad International Airport in Doha where she was deported to Sudan, her homeland. “They did not allow me to take anything with me, [not] even my money,” Sheikh added.

Furthermore, Sheikh said that Qatari authorities threatened to kill her in her country.

“First, Sheikh Sultan called at home and talked with his kids, shortly after, a woman came and said that she has to give me something to deliver to Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim; that was when the security came and stormed the house,” Sheikh explained.

In her statements, Sheikh affirmed that most foreign workers in Qatar live in fear all the time because of the "enforced disappearances" taking place in the country. She also added that all phone calls are monitored by the authorities.

On Thursday, October 12, the Qatari authorities stormed Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani’s palace in Doha; the step came after the very same authorities froze the bank accounts of the young Sheikh.

The authorities confiscated more than 137 personal suitcases and several files belonging to the late Qatari Foreign Minister Suhaim Al-Thani, Sheikh Sultan’s father. These files document the history of the tiny Emirate from the 1960s until Suhaim’s death in 1985.

Qatari authorities also arrested all the palace’s domestic servants, including the Sudanese housekeeper Sahar al- Sheikh. The authorities also seized during the raid all the personal photos of Suhaim’s late wife, Mona al-Dousari.