"Australian women sue Qatar Airways over forced examinations at Doha airport", 21 October 2022

Five Australian women are suing Qatar Airways in the New South Wales supreme court over a 2020 incident in which they were forcibly removed from aeroplanes at gunpoint in Doha, and some intimately examined without explanation or their consent.

The women are seeking damages from both Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority – owned by the Qatari government – over the “unlawful physical contact” and mental health impacts, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

On 2 October 2020, women on planes on the ground at Doha, including 13 Australians, were subjected to the examinations as authorities searched for the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned in a plastic bag in the departures lounge at Hamad international airport.

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The infant survived.

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Facing potentially devastating commercial and reputational damage after the incident, Qatar vowed to guarantee the future “safety and security” of passengers, without further details.

The Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, conceded standard security protocols had been violated, and expressed his “sincerest apology for what some female travellers went through”.

“We regret the unacceptable treatment of the female passengers,” he said.

An airport security official was charged and prosecuted, and received a suspended prison sentence.

But the Qatari government and Qatar Airways have failed to respond to entreaties from the Australian women to “provide a meaningful apology for the hurt and distress caused” as well as “provide assurances to both the complainants and the international community that this kind of conduct will never happen again”.

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