To be disgusted with Qatars assault on these women?

[ChristmasStocckings]

I'm honestly shocked at how these poor women have been treated and my heart breaks for them. How on earth did anyone think that this was ok? No one should be forced to have an examination that they did not consent too. There is no excuse for this behaviour.

www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/doha-dfat-registers-serious-concerns-after-women-pulled-off-plane-strip-searched/news-story/f4eb941d267c2211605238a574935995

Wow that is unbelievable op

Seriously shocking. Smacks of The Handmaid's Tale.

It was on the first page of the BBC website yesterday

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-54682565

A physical search, carried out by officials in accordance with the laws of the country in which it takes place, isn't sexual assault.

But it is horrifying that in some places, officials have these powers and people are treated like livestock.

Grossly dissturbing (as the Aussie govt says)

YANBU. They could have done a simple blood test and explained why they needed to take a blood test. No excuse for a physical exam on the tarmac 😓 and they could have looked at CCTV footage and passport information to narrow down who the
mother was as well.

I'm sorry but I think that when you go to a country with different societal rules then you have to accept that their norms differ. It is no different to how their prisoners are treated.

In this scenario, I understand the logic, from 3 perspectives.

1 Leaving the baby under Qatari was obviously a crime.
2 the mother may well have been in need of medical help and that was apparently the driving force of the situation, albeit deemed heavy handed.
3 the baby under Islamic law has a right to know its parental history.

@SoloMummy

I'm sorry but I think that when you go to a country with different societal rules then you have to accept that their norms differ. It is no different to how their prisoners are treated.

In this scenario, I understand the logic, from 3 perspectives.

1 Leaving the baby under Qatari was obviously a crime.
2 the mother may well have been in need of medical help and that was apparently the driving force of the situation, albeit deemed heavy handed.
3 the baby under Islamic law has a right to know its parental history.

Many of them were just there to transfer. I think a lot of Australian flights have to transfer somewhere in the Middle East.

I wonder how they narrowed down the flight, it didn’t strike me as someone entering from Qatar itself, as that specific airline won’t let an obviously pregnant women board a plane without documentation. I know this from experience with Qatar Airways.

Yes, could have been a transfer flight. Very scary and law or not it was conducted wrong.

As a total,aside, I was just wondering - how long do blood tests to show recent parturition take to run?

Whilst the level of invasive exam is abhorrent to me it's not unusual for different countries to have different rules. I've been separated from my male travel partners in a number of countries and in one I was taken into what can only be described as a fabric tent and frisked. It's just normal there. If Qatari officials decided this course of action was necessary and within the power then I'm not sure if it's "illegal". The UK has a culture of "informed consent" but is that true of Qatar? I don't know. A family member used to live there and based on what they've told me I'd argue not.

@Mokusspokus

Agree solo mummy. Too many people go to these medieval barbaric hell holes, enjoy the high life and then get shocked when they get treated like the locals... Welcome to the life of women in extreme Muslim countries.

It's one of the few airports where passengers can transit to an Australian flight at the moment.

I don't think there is anything in any of the press reports on this to suggest that they were in Qatar for a jolly.

The Australians were trying to get home, transiting through the airport. There are very few international flights available due to the current pandemic. Lots of people have been trying to get back to their homes for weeks.
Anyone who thinks the mother of the baby will get medical care or support is deluded.
They only want to find her to throw her in jail.

Agree Tissueboxcover They wanted to find the mother to punish her. While I agree different laws apply in different countries it doesn't make this any less abhorrent.

They took the women off the flight, forced them into an ambulance n the tarmac, removed their underwear and checked their vaginas- all without telling them why.

I would have been beside myself, going through something as horrific as that without even knowing why.

Pigs. Any pretext to humiliate women.

@UsedUpUsername

YANBU. They could have done a simple blood test and explained why they needed to take a blood test. No excuse for a physical exam on the tarmac 😓 and they could have looked at CCTV footage and passport information to narrow down who the mother was as well.

I'm not saying what they did was right.

But why is a blood test less invasive than a physical exam? This is a different country with different laws and values.

How long do paternity/maternity tests take?

Were the passengers given the right to refuse, and be detained for other tests they would consent to?

And the Australian authorities are hypocrites with all their frothing, they strip searched a child at a music festival against their laws and without a parent.

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/21/police-strip-searched-16-year-old-girl-at-splendour-music-festival-inquiry-hears

Were there Mumsnetters queuing up a year ago to condemn Australia as a backwards country with no regard for children's rights or women's rights?

Hmmm

@SoloMummy

I'm sorry but I think that when you go to a country with different societal rules then you have to accept that their norms differ. It is no different to how their prisoners are treated.

In this scenario, I understand the logic, from 3 perspectives.

1 Leaving the baby under Qatari was obviously a crime.
2 the mother may well have been in need of medical help and that was apparently the driving force of the situation, albeit deemed heavy handed.
3 the baby under Islamic law has a right to know its parental history.

I'd comply with alcohol laws and dress codes but an invasive strip search is not an acceptable social norm anywhere.

Barbaric countries indeed. The only change I step foot in those hell holes would be is they kidnapped me there. 🤢

I find it totally disturbing and horrific. I'm never flying through Qatar again and will warn my friends who have gone back and forth between down under & the UK, not to.

@SkedaddIe - as someone who has been sexually assaulted, I can tell you that a strip search and someone checking your genitals is completely different from being forced to give a blood sample. The sexual assault leaves scars and make no mistake, it is a sexual assault.

Your response sounds callous and tone deaf.

@VikingVolva

It was on the first page of the BBC website yesterday

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-54682565

A physical search, carried out by officials in accordance with the laws of the country in which it takes place, isn't sexual assault.

But it is horrifying that in some places, officials have these powers and people are treated like livestock.

Grossly dissturbing (as the Aussie govt says)

It is a sexual assault when someone penetrates you against your will. To check that someone is not recently post partum that's what you have to do.

Almost as horrifying as the sexual assaults by the Qatari government is the women on here defending them

Absolutely appalling! I hope there is LOUD international condemnation of this.