• Home
• /
• World
• /
• MENA

Persecuted Qatari tribe demands justice

Geneva - A delegation of Al Ghufran tribe recounted miserable stories of people of their community.

The people of Al Ghufran tribe of Qatar have called for international help to end the persecution of their community by the running affairs in Doha.
In a symposium organised by the Arab Federation for Human Rights on the sidelines of the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a delegation of Al Ghufran tribe recounted miserable stories of people of their community.
Nasser Jaber Al Merri, a member of the tribe, said the Qatari authorities revoked his and his family members' nationality when he was six during a vacation abroad.
The Qatari authorities, he said, had also prohibited them from returning to their home country.
He said his father was fired from his job as an engineer at the Qatar Petroleum company.
Jaber said his father's efforts to communicate with the Qatari government on reasons why he was banned from entering Qatar had no result. In the case of Jaber Rashid Al Ghufrani, his nationality was rescinded when he was 11. His father was deprived of all his rights after he served in the Qatari armed forces for 23 long years.
Speaking in a sombre voice, Jaber said three of his brothers were born outside Qatar and they are barred from entering Qatar and ddi not have birth certificates.
"When we requested the government to issue the birth certificates, we were told that we were not Qatari nationals," Jeber lamented.
Elaborating further, Jaber said that the Qatari embassy in Saudi Arabia had seized the passports and other Qatari documents he submitted for renewal. They wanted to destroy all evidence of my ties to my homeland, he alleged. He also informed that his father did not have any political connections to invite such a vindictive action from the government.
Another member of Al Ghufran tribe, Saleh Mohamed Al Ghufrani, also explained how Qatar had deprived his father and his family of citizenship. He said his and his family members' nationality was revoked in 1996.
"I was born in the USA to a Qatari father and mother, but became stateless without a home or nationality at the stroke of a pen," he added.
He also said the Qatari authorities granted his father a grace period of 72 hours to leave Qatar, failing which he was threatened with jail.
His father's appeals to the authorities to extend the grace period fell on deaf ears,
Saleh begged the human rights organisations and societies around the world to intervene urgently to find a solution to the problems of Al Ghufran tribe.
Replying to a question raised by AbdulAziz Al Khamis, moderator of the symposium, about the reason why Al Ghufran clan members, despite such intense humanitarian suffering in Qatar, are still remaining in Qatar. Saleh said that they fear if they left the country, they would not be allowed to reenter the country again.
Mohamad Saleh Al Ghufrani's story is more heart-rending. His father was detained in the Qatari jail in 1996. He then walked free but was psychologically ill due to what he had suffered during his detainment.
During this period, his family, comprising 9 members, the youngest of whom was 7 years old and oldest was 10 years then, was displaced.
Mohamad said his father had served in the Qatari army and took part in the liberation of Kuwait and gained official certificates of appreciation, yet he and his family were rewarded with such a punishment.
On May 28, 1996, Mohamad said his family was forcefully displaced, and had their nationality taken away.
Another tribesman Jaber Abdullhadi also recounted the misery of his family and described how the Qatari authorities had stripped his dead father of nationality. He said the main aim was to deprive his descendents of the citizenship.
"How come that a country in this world revokes the nationality of dead people," he wondered.
Jaber says the practices of the Qatari government amount to ethnic cleansing, which is internationally banned, as the government sees each member of Al Ghufran clan as a betrayer, agent, and conniver.
"If somebody committed a crime, he/she must undergo a fair trial, and if convicted he must bear the consequences alone, not all of his family members," he said.
Jaber summarised the demands of Al Ghufran tribe by saying they are not merely seeking restoration of nationality but are also demanding compensation for the extreme human, social and economic suffering the tribe had gone through.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com