Women at Doha airport were removed from flights and forced to undergo invasive internal inspection in an ambulance on the tarmac

I mean, if you found a baby and wanted to find the mother would you think to round up all the nearest women and assault them? I can't see forced examination as anything less than assault.

Nobody said you did. As for the cause of the searches, that would be the legal system and society that allowed a plane full of women and possibly girls to be sexually assaulted in the course of a criminal investigation.

I didn't say there were excuses for the searches but posters seem happy to ignore what the cause of them was.

Total misogyny?

The baby was placed in a bin in a plastic bag. I have not seen anyone argue that this is in any way less than horrible

There are posts expressing outrage that the Qatari authorities treated it as a crime.

There simply isn't any excuse for the searches. None whatsoever. That is the only underlying and indisputable point here, given that nobody is in a position to speak to the mother's mental state.

There's a big difference between leaving a baby somewhere where it is safe and will be found and hiding it in a plastic bag in a bin.

The searches of the passengers were utterly wrong and unjustified but so was putting the baby in a bin

No one knows the pressures, threats or circumstances the mother was in that led to her actions.

She have had PND. She may have genuinely thought the baby was better dead than being found with her in a ME country. Likely she was raped, coerced, faced with prison, physical punishment, death. She may have been terrified of being returned to her abuser.

I will not condemn her.

It seems there are more than two things wrong.

1. The baby was placed in a bin in a plastic bag. I have not seen anyone argue that this is in any way less than horrible.

1. The laws of the country where the baby was placed in the bin which criminalise sex outside marriage, abortion and giving birth outside marriage which can result in placing the woman in prison. These laws apply even if the woman was raped and the baby a result of that rape.

1. Removing women from planes and physically examining them without consent or even information about why it was being done.

There may be more issues but these seem to be the main ones.

When authorities sexually assault women it's somewhat on a different scale to a personal tragedy.

I don't think anyone approves of babies being put in bins, that is horrific. I wonder if it is more likely to happen in countries where women are heavily controlled though.

You know it is possible for 2 things to be wrong simultaneously. The last few posts seem unconcerned about the baby.

Putting a baby in a plastic bag in a bin is a very different situation than leaving a baby in a public place where it will easily be found.

The searches of the passengers were utterly wrong and unjustified but so was putting the baby in a bin.

This is horrific from a few different angles tbh.

But a forced internal is just disgusting.

'What about the baby' ie. 'lets all shame the mother instead and ignore the fact that women were violated'.

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/28/qatar-scandal-do-the-women-subjected-to-medical-examination-at-doha-airport-have-any-legal-options

Morrison trotted out the line that as a father of daughters he sees how terrible this is.

"Authorities said that while the aim of the “urgently-decided search” was to “prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping”

In a nutshell it was to catch and punish a woman for a crime. Well at least it's slightly refreshing that they aren't dressing it up as faux concern for a recently-birthed mother's health.

Something to bear in mind though for whenever I do manage to visit my family in NZ to avoid a ME transit hub, and hope that the pilot does not need to divert for weather.

Authorities said that while the aim of the “urgently-decided search” was to “prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping”, it did have some regrets.

Yep. They wanted catch and punish the perp and helping a distressed woman in need of medical care doesn't even factor into it.

I get a bit of sick in my mouth when friends post pic of their holidays in these countries. Same goes for those posting what a nice lunch they're having in a Trump resort.
We should not be funding these awful places/people.

Ok, well, at least it sounds like no one is sweeping things under the carpet. It is absolutely appalling that this baby girl was placed in a plastic bag in a rubbish bin - although note the report doesn’t say allegedly there - that is inhumane, and a bit different from what I personally imagined, the baby being perhaps bundled in clothing and left in a cubicle/on the side/somewhere she would be found quickly. In a plastic bag concealed in a bin - there aren’t words really, are there, that is proper horrific.

But at least Qatar isn’t just immediately claiming their actions were correct:

Authorities said that while the aim of the “urgently-decided search” was to “prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping”, it did have some regrets.

“His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar has directed that a comprehensive, transparent investigation into the incident be conducted.

(Side note - is that all one person, the sheikh, prime minister and minister of interior? Or just poor punctuation?)

And Australia has expressed dissatisfaction and kept her options open on further action.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the alleged incident was “unacceptable” at a press conference on Wednesday.

(It’s alleged again now - has that been put back in by the reporter, or did Scott Morrison say ‘alleged’ as that’s what this implies)

“That has been the official message and conveyed very clearly in the investigation because it is unacceptable. I mean, it was appalling,” he told reporters.

“We expect to see the result of that investigation very soon and that will be shared with us by the Qatari government.

“We will consider all options once we have the opportunity to review the investigation.”

Robust language there, that is somewhat reassuring.

7news.com.au/news/world/shocking-new-details-revealed-as-qatar-government-responds-to-airport-strip-searches-c-1472181

Hey, everyone, it's okay. According to the above news story everything is "alleged". The women were "allegedly" taken off the plane, so it didn't really happen. (Think of rape allegations.)

Shouldn't expect anything better of Channel 7 news...

This is horrific and inexcusable.
I am appalled at some of the comments on this thread that aren't completely condemning this disgraceful action or are trying to justify or excuse it.

TEN FLIGHTS?????

Amazing how many people are able to see the poor baby as human, but not any of the innocent women who just happened to be in the vicinity.

I can't understand why this has not made it on to the TV news.

That's a side note obviously. This action was based on SEX though not gender.

The that sex is irrelevant is just fucking ludicrous. I mean at this shit right here.

Newspeak:
A person abandoned a newborn baby at the airport and some people were taken from flights and searched in the hunt for the person who abandoned the baby.

Yeah the new method will in no way diminish the ability of women to identify and speak out about things that affect us.

You can change the marker on your passport I believe with no trouble so that might help.

I do wonder how women who look like women but have m in passport would get treated. I suspect they would have been pulled off the flight as well and then that would be much worse than what happened to the women with an F.

Also any transwoman who didn't get pulled off the flight despite having an F could be pretty annoyed.

If these women didn’t identify as women that day, would they have been exempt?