2014-09-05 15:39:00

Rights group says staff go missing in Qatar


Two British citizens doing research on migrant worker issues in Qatar, the Gulf nation that is due to host the 2022 World Cup, have gone missing after one of them reported being harassed by police, according to the Norwegian human rights group that employs them.   The Global Network for Rights and Development said Thursday that researcher Krishna Upadhyaya, 52, and photographer Ghimire Gundev, 36, both of Nepali origin, were supposed to leave Qatar via the capital Doha on Sunday.  Their whereabouts are not known.  Fahad Atalla, project manager for the group in Norway, said he believes Qatari security services were behind the disappearance, but he could not give evidence to support the assertion.  The London-based rights group Amnesty International said the two had been working in Qatar since Aug. 27 for the Norway-based organization. It called on Qatari authorities to immediately reveal their whereabouts ``and dispel the growing fears that they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.'' Qatar's treatment of foreign workers has come under greater scrutiny since it won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, with labour rights activists highlighting unsafe working conditions, allegations of unpaid salaries, contracts binding workers to a single employer and other abuses. (Source: AP)








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