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THE Scottish Government kept silent on human rights abuses while seeking £1.3billion to pay for new hospitals and motorways from Qatar.

The full extraordinary details of International Development Minister Humza Yousaf ’s mission to the Gulf state can be revealed today.

He failed to mention the slave conditions of migrant workers working on construction projects for the 2022 World Cup, as he appealed for funding for a string of high-cost projects.

Yousaf was told by officials to highlight a shopping list of multi-million pound “investment opportunities” during the trip in May 2013.

They included £415million for M8, M73 and M74 motorway improvements and £450million for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road.

He was briefed that his approach for a meeting with Qatar’s ruler at the time, Sheikh Hamad Bin ­Khalifa Al Thani, should be that the Gulf state had “great potential” to help Scotland’s economy.

The revelations by news website The Ferret sparked condemnation from the Scottish trade union movement.

STUC assistant secretary Helen Martin said: “The Scottish Government’s commitment to fair work and human rights cannot stop at the border.

“Qatar is a state that is built on slavery and abuse and it is completely illegitimate to do business with them and profit from this slavery.”

A Sunday Mail investigation two years ago exposed horrific conditions suffered by workers on infrastructure projects for the 2022 World Cup.

We revealed how young labourers were dying from heart attacks and heat exhaustion in temperatures topping 40C.

Yousaf represented the Scottish Government at the Doha Forum in Qatar from May 20-22, 2013.

A 127-page briefing pack

prepared by officials for his visit was released under freedom of information in February.

In addition to the road projects, Qatar’s oil money was also sought for a £200million hospital in Dumfries, a £150million Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh, a £45million mental hospital in North Ayrshire and a £37million blood transfusion centre in Edinburgh.

The briefing pack includes a Foreign Office memo that briefly alludes to the rights of migrant workers but the subject did not make it to the agendas for Yousaf’s meetings with Qatari leaders.

The pack was obtained by Labour MSP Neil Findlay, a critic of the Scottish Government’s links with Qatar.

He said: “This document clearly shows the Scottish Government sending out its smooth young salesman to do a Dragons’ Den-style pitch for Qatari cash.

“We have moved from the Government making a pitch for investment in renewables to asking for money to pay for our essential public services.”

The Scottish Government said it is “firmly committed to acting as a good global citizen and stands against human rights abuses wherever they exist.”

It added: “Mr Yousaf has taken several opportunities to engage constructively with Qatar on human rights – including at several points during a visit to Qatar and the UAE last year.

“He made a speech in the UAE calling on Arab States to comply with international law and

condemn human rights abuses – specifically mentioning migrant workers’ rights.”

They declined to say whether Qatar had invested in any public sector work in Scotland.