Complaint over Ghufran tribe violations presented to UNHCR

The Arab Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) presented the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) a complaint against Qatar’s violation of the Ghufran tribe and its members to the Office of the.

Ahmed al-Hamli, head of the Arab Federation, presented the complaint to Mohamed Ali Nisour, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Division during a meeting at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

Nisour said that UNHCR is interested in the issue of withdrawal of nationalities and the Gulf region in general.

"We, as an Arab organization, are interested in protecting the rights of every Arab person as part of our endeavor to spread and promote a culture of human rights in our Arab world," al-Hamli said.

restored. (Supplied)

The complaint detailed how in 1996 Qatari authorities arrested and detained many members of the tribe of Ghufran tribe. It stated that brutal methods of torture which led in some cases to memory loss and psychological disorders was practiced on the victims until their death.

It further stated that in 2000, the Qatari government began to revoke the Qatari nationality from some of the tribe members and then deported them to neighboring countries preventing them from returning to their homeland.

In 2005, the Qatari authorities ordered the revocation of the citizenship of 6,000 tribe members in a racist way, where children and women were not spared.

The tribe members appealed in the complaint to the UNHCR to help tribe members to attain their rights.

It also called to the need to take action against persons involved in the torture and humiliation of the tribes members who were held in detention.

source: AFP