Qatar: Arbitrary travel ban against citizens

(Beirut) - Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights said today that the Qatari state security apparatus has arbitrarily and indefinitely prevented at least four citizens from traveling without judicial procedures or a clear legal basis. . State security forces arrested a man in October 2020 after he posted tweets criticizing arbitrary travel bans against him and others, and he remains in detention.

Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) interviewed three of these men and sources close to the fourth and reviewed documents related to the four men, which reveal that the State Security Apparatus imposed travel bans without any legal process, and in some cases effectively defied judicial orders. One of the men was also subjected to financial penalties, including the freezing of his bank accounts. These arbitrary penalties have resulted in material and psychological harm to the persons concerned and their families.

"Imposing an arbitrary indefinite travel ban starkly contrasts with the country's image of the rights-conscious that the Qatari authorities are striving to present to the world, especially ahead of the FIFA World Cup," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. 2022.” These arbitrary measures by State Security diminish confidence in the Qatari authorities’ respect for due legal procedures.

A law issued in 2003 defines the powers and objectives of the Qatari State Security Agency. It grants the agency wide powers that are almost not subject to any oversight. Under this law, the agency is directly subordinate to the Emir and has the authority to supervise and investigate, "It shall not be [subjected] to any oversight unless the Emir authorizes it."

This law prohibits individuals and governmental and non-governmental organizations from concealing or refraining from providing information requested by the head of the state security apparatus, "whatever its nature." The law also prohibits the head of the agency from disclosing his activities, information related to his work, means of obtaining them and their sources, except with a special permission from the Emir.

The four men are: Abdullah al-Muhannadi, a businessman who has been banned from traveling by the authorities since 2013; Saud Khalifa Al Thani, a former employee of the Ministry of Interior who has been contesting a travel ban imposed on him since 2016; Dr. Najeeb Al Nuaimi, a former Minister of Justice who has been banned from traveling since 2017; and Mohammed Al-Sulaiti, a Qatari citizen with US residency, who has been banned from traveling since 2018 and detained since October 2020.

A source close to Al-Sulaiti said that security forces in plain clothes arrested him on October 04, 2020, at his home in Doha, and held him incommunicado for two weeks. Weeks before his arrest, Al-Sulaiti had posted on social media a statement issued by Amnesty International detailing the arbitrary travel bans he and other citizens of Qatar were subjected to. Amnesty International also said that he posted a survey on his Twitter account to collect data on Qataris arbitrarily banned from travel, and his account was suspended after his arrest.

Al-Sulaiti has been living in the United States since 2015, where he owned two companies. A source close to him said that the authorities arrested him for the first time in 2018 at “Hamad International Airport” while he was preparing to leave the country and detained him for five months arbitrarily without charging him. He has been banned from traveling since his release.

The Ministry of Interior imposed a travel ban on Saud Khalifa Al Thani in 2016 by administrative order and without any explanation. He said he filed a case with the Court of First Instance to challenge the ban on April 01, 2019. The two organizations reviewed court documents, which show that the court ruled in his favor, rescinding the 2016 travel ban effective May 08, 2019.

Despite this, Al Thani said that unidentified men stopped him at his home that same month without presenting an arrest warrant. He added that they took him to a headquarters of the State Security Agency, where the security men interrogated him about a news article about his case, and how he obtained a copy of the document that mentions the authority that issued the travel ban in 2016. State Security forces detained Al Thani for 37 days, then released him without charge him. State Security issued another travel ban against him around the same time based on unspecified reasons related to State Security.

The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal filed by Al-Thani on December 2, 2021. He is still unable to leave the country, despite his multiple requests for medical reasons.

Qatari authorities detained Abdullah al-Muhannadi for nearly three weeks in 2007 after agents from the Ministry of Interior interrogated him for criticizing ministry officials on electronic platforms. In September 2013, authorities arbitrarily banned al-Mohannadi from travel and froze all his personal and business finances without a court order.

The State Security Agency prevented banks from accepting his financial transactions and prevented Hamad International Airport from allowing him to travel through it. In November 2018, al-Mohannadi received a text message stating that the travel ban had been terminated, but when he attempted to travel to Turkey in January 2019, airport officials prevented him from leaving, telling him that he was still subject to a travel ban imposed by the State Security Apparatus.

Dr. Al-Nuaimi, who served as Minister of Justice from 1995 to 1997, has been subject to an arbitrary travel ban since 2017. Al-Nuaimi was notified of this ban in January 2017 in a text message from the General Directorate of Passports and Public Prosecution bearing his identity card number. A court order was issued in favor of Al-Nuaimi in June 2017 stating that the reasons for the travel ban had expired, and therefore the travel ban issued against the appellant was revoked. However, the authorities continue to prevent al-Nuaimi from leaving the country.

Al-Nuaimi was the defense attorney for poet Mohammed Al-Ajmi, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for a poem he recited in a private forum criticizing the Emir. Al-Ajmi was released in March 2016 after an Amiri pardon.

Article 7 of the State Security Apparatus Law, amended in 2008, authorizes the chief of the apparatus to prevent persons accused of crimes within the jurisdiction of the apparatus from leaving the country for a maximum period of 30 days before appearing before the public prosecution. The ban may be extended by order of the Public Prosecution for a renewable period of six months. The article does not stipulate that the person concerned must be informed of the travel ban, or provide its reasons or basic evidence, nor does it provide for any means of legally challenging the decision.

After an official visit to Qatar in 2019, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that it was prevented from visiting the detention center of the State Security Agency, and that the law establishing this agency “does not provide for any judicial oversight of this detention.” The factor is that such detention may in practice lead to long periods of detention in violation of international human rights norms.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Qatar ratified in 2018, states that everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own. This treaty allows states to impose restrictions on this right as long as provided by law and when they are necessary and proportionate to protect national security, public order, public health, or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others.

Khaled Ibrahim, Executive Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, said: "The blatant disregard for judicial orders sends a message that the security authorities can act as they wish and operate outside the rule of law."