Geneva- Asharq Al Awsat

Members of al-Ghufran Qatari tribe called on the United Nations and international human rights organizations to intervene urgently to find a quick solution to their persecution by the Qatari authorities.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Arab Federation for Human Rights (AFHR) entitled "Human Rights in Qatar: Tragedy of Displacement and Removal of Nationality" on the sidelines of the 37th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the tribe requested the organizations to protect their rights from the Qatari government's violations such as persecution, imprisonment, and nationality revocation.

Speaking at the seminar, Nasser Jaber al-Marri said Qatari authorities had revoked the nationality of his family when he was six while they were on vacation outside Qatar and authorities prevented them from returning home. His father was dismissed from his job as an engineer at Qatar Petroleum.

Marri complained that Qatari authorities had not responded to his father's requests for communication in order to discuss the reason behind such decision.

Also at the seminar, Jaber Rashid al-Ghufrani said that Qatar's regime revoked his nationality when he was 11 years old. His father was deprived of all his rights even after serving in Qatar's armed forces for 23 years and without having any political affiliation or activities.

Ghufrani said three of his brothers were born abroad and do not have birth certificates after the Qatar regime banned them, pointing out that Qatar's embassy in Saudi Arabia confiscated their passports.

Saleh Mohammed al-Ghufrani explained that Qatari authorities had revoked his nationality and his family's in 1996. He added that the Qatari authorities gave his father only 72 hours to leave the country or else he will be imprisoned.

Authorities had rejected all his petitions to arrange his affairs and get severance pay after his dismissal from his job.

Al-Ghufran tribe is one of the main branches of the larger al-Murrah tribe, and most of its members live in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Saleh called on international human rights organizations and associations to intervene urgently to find a speedy solution to the issue of his tribe.

In response to a question by Abdel Aziz al-Khamis, director of the seminar, on the reason why the tribe remains in Qatar despite all this human suffering, Saleh indicated they fear that if they leave they will not be able to return again.

Mohammed Saleh al-Ghufrani's father was detained for four months at the Qatari intelligence prison in 1996, after which he was released and suffered from mental illness. He spoke of his father's great grief because he served in the Qatari army and participated in the war to liberate Kuwait and arrested terrorists and received official certificates of appreciation, only to be rewarded like this.