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

[ReplacementPlasticUterus]

I can't quite believe this.

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

Those choices aren’t always simple though.

Hub airports are highly politicised, their building and situating is often geo political. Passengers have no say, or indeed a choice in that.

Even so, there are international treaties that even the most human rights averse countries have to abide to

Why are you defending them with such a vigour?

'. The same as men expecting to walk around the airport shirtless would be challenged. Their rules. Abide or fly via other routes'

By having a couple of fingers shoved up their arse?

If you say so...

And these women hadn't broken any rules, had they.

This thread and another one loads of women saying this is aok. What do they expect etc.

They say women in the article, presumably all females over puberty would have been examined. Still ok? Some of the women may not have had smears/ penetrative sex etc. Still ok?

My 11yo and 13yo DDs would have been examined presumably.

Their country their rules? Think about what you are saying here.

But it’s not “their rules”. It isn’t written in law that if a baby is abandoned all suspected women must be examined. They have just chosen to do that. This thread is certainly illuminating though.

Its an incredibly weird thing to be defending in my opinion

Wow. So many posters condoning sexual assault on women.

I think the "their rules" comment isn't somebody condoning what went on in Doha, it's an observation of the horrific realpolitik at play in some parts of the world...

Some might perhaps reflect on this again when/if air travel returns to normal and people have a choice of which airlines to fly on and which airports/countries to choose to transit through, but ATM some have no choice but to transit through the Gulf airports.

What if they have discovered a pregnancy in an unmarried woman during these examations? It's quite possible a woman from a less brutal country could have been in the early stages of pregnancy but only there for a couple weeks. If they had found out about a pregnancy from a urine test or examination, would they have also used the opportunity to throw her in jail rather than let her fly home?

That’s a chilling thought Whatever, but I suppose if one follows the logic that their rules are all that matter then it wouldn’t be impossible.

I will say it again. I cannot believe on FWR that women are victim blaming to such a terrible extend. The women on that plane - all innocent of any crime, were forced to undergo a procedure that they gave no consent to. All of the women will have been terrified of what would happen to them if the objected. They were stripped of all their human rights.
Those women on this board saying - their country their rules? The very people who made those rules will be rolling back your rights next..you going to sit down for that to? Or is only women like you who deserve protections?

I think some people are confusing FWR with AIBU.

[quote SoloMummy]@RufustheSniggeringReindeer
They have chosen to take a flight that lands in that country. Choice. That means they abide by their rules. Very simple. The same as men expecting to walk around the airport shirtless would be challenged. Their rules. Abide or fly via other routes.[/quote]
I've chosen to take a flight that lands in that country for transit somewhere else. That usually means getting off a plane, going to another gate, maybe having a wee and leaving again. It doesn't mean I've signed up to sexual assault FFS.

We've ignored the plight of women globally at our own peril. Patriarchy is a cancer that will always spread

Absolutely. When one woman isn't free, none of us truly are.

This story is so awful, so terrifying. I'm at a loss for words.

For those saying abide by rules or it's your own fault, that's exactly it. The only rule these women broke, was to be a woman.

Bloody hell. I left this last night and am astonished to come back and find some people (I am assuming women) defending the Qatari actions.

'Their country, their rules' my arse.

The thought that my 15 year-old daughter could be subjected to this sort of assault makes my blood run cold.

@IheartJKR has it - there's a baby involved and all critical thinking goes out of the window.

There is a thread in chat or somewhere as well with lots of women saying well what did they expect etc

Really weird and depressing.

Do you remember the woman I think she was Dutch who was raped and ended up in prison for sex outside marriage?

I had a look on the FCO advice for the country and the only warnings were about alcohol, and modest dress.

I really think the FCO should have a specific section for risks around sex/ rape etc. To think about whether to report or not etc. And highlight if it's riskier for women there. It's a massive oversight and can only assume it's not there for political reasons, or because it's mainly written by men and they don't think about the risks which are greater for women.

@froggygoneonakillingspree

UsedUpUsername I pray that you don't have children. Being raised by a parent who doesn't understand or possess empathy must be crippling.

(And no one "left a baby to die", since the baby did not in fact die.)

Usually, the embassy helps out with runaway, pregnant maids
She was imprisoned with her baby

You have a funny view of "help". I wonder how bad the abuse of women would need to be before you'd call a government that imprisons women including female slaves for having premarital sex or being rape victims "scumbags."

She in fact did leave a baby to die alone in a toilet. Luckily the baby was found and given treatment.

And I pray (well, I’m an atheist so I hope) that you don’t have children when you see nothing wrong with child abandonment.

And you are putting words into my mouth here. I do call out the cruelty of the MENA and how they imprison mothers for the non-crime of having children out of wedlock.

I support organisations that work to get those women and their babies out of prison. I also support the local embassies in supporting runaway maids from their countries in getting out of Qatar.

I DO NOT have sympathy for a woman who abandons an infant in a toilet. The baby could easily have died due to her actions.

But the issue here is that Qatar allowed unrelated women to be sexually assaulted. There were plenty of other ways to track down the mother, it was so needless.

Some monumentally ignorant and disgusting comments on this thread.

She in fact did leave a baby to die alone in a toilet

You have absolutely no idea if that was the case

None

*She in fact did leave a baby to die alone in a toilet

You have absolutely no idea if that was the case*

She said it was a fact. Therefore it must be true...

Although no capitals. If it’s on the internet it’s true if you put fact in capitals after a statement. FACT.

I was horrified to read about this and cannot understand how anyone would defend it.

Did they find the mother? I hope they didn't.

I DO NOT have sympathy for a woman who abandons an infant in a toilet

I do.

Although no capitals. If it’s on the internet it’s true if you put fact in capitals after a statement. FACT.

Shit yeah

I forgot about that...doh

There is a further report here. There were women from all over the World on that flight, thirteen of them were Australian. It would seem that the deceased baby was a premature foetus. What an awful experience for all the women involved.

www.facebook.com/7NEWSsydney/videos/australian-women-humiliated-and-searched-invasively-at-doha-airport/376980766686657/

@bluebluezoo

*She in fact did leave a baby to die alone in a toilet

You have absolutely no idea if that was the case*

She said it was a fact. Therefore it must be true...

Although no capitals. If it’s on the internet it’s true if you put fact in capitals after a statement. FACT.

Because that’s the important thing here 🙄

There’s little other explanation here. She abandoned an infant in the toilets, and it could have easily died.

Or are you suggesting that it was dumped by someone other than the mother?

However, the authorities virtually sexually assaulted these unrelated women when they could have used other methods to track down the mother. Shows how little they regard the dignity of and bodily autonomy of other people