Human rights NGOs call for Qatar to release World Cup abuses whistle-blower

The authorities in Qatar should immediately free a former Jordanian official for the 2022 men’s football World Cup who was first arrested in 2019 after voicing concerns over the treatment of migrant workers on FIFA World Cup construction projects, Amnesty International, FairSquare and Human Rights Watch said today.

Abdullah Ibhais, explained the human rights NGOs, has been determined by a UN committee to have been detained arbitrarily for nearly three years. Ibhais is a former media manager for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar’s World Cup organising committee.

In August 2019, after a large group of migrant workers living in Al-Shahaniya labour camp went on strike in protest at unpaid wages, Ibhais provided evidence to his colleagues in the Supreme Committee that some of the workers were involved in stadium construction for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“Lying is not Qatar’s way, and should not be,” he told a senior colleague in one message. Just weeks later, in November 2019, Qatar’s World Cup organisers submitted a report to the police alleging that Ibhais had been engaged in bribery with the intent to harm state security.

Ibhais sought support from FIFA via its online whistleblowing platform in September 2021. Two months later, FIFA said that “any person deserves a trial that is fair” and added that it would “continue to follow this matter closely,” but made no commitment to supporting Ibhais beyond this. He was arrested again in November 2021 and is serving a three-year sentence for bribery.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention took up Ibhais’ case after his family submitted a request in December 2022, saying that he had been imprisoned arbitrarily on the basis of a demonstrably unfair trial. In its 13-page opinion on the case, the UN body concluded that there was no legal basis for Ibhais’ detention, that the deprivation of his liberty resulted from the exercise of his rights and that there were multiple violations of his right to a fair trial, including refusing to investigate his allegations of a coerced confession, denying him legal assistance and denying him the right to access evidence.

The father of two is due for release in October, but because the court also imposed a fine alongside his custodial sentence this could be extended to April 2025 if he can’t pay it. Amnesty has called his trial unfair and said that allegations that Ibhais was threatened and coerced into making incriminating confessions should be investigated independently.

The Qatar government was given two months to reply to the UN Working Group and to contest its serious allegations but did not reply. The Working Group has called on the government in Doha to “release Mr Ibhais and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”

Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, Aya Majzoub, said that the UN Working Group has confirmed emphatically what many have been saying for years. “That is, it’s long past time for the Qatari authorities to release Abdullah Ibhais, quash his conviction and ensure his right to an effective remedy including adequate compensation,” explained Majzoub. “Everything about his ordeal — from the lack of due process and denial of family visits to the use of a forced confession — represents a travesty of justice that must be brought to an end immediately.”

According to Nick McGeehan, Co-director of FairSquare, FIFA washed its hands of Abdulla Ibhais a month before the Qatar World Cup despite clear evidence of a grossly unfair trial in a prosecution instigated by their Qatari partners. “This highly authoritative decision should compel them to act and publicly call for him to be freed and allowed to return to his young family.”

Human Rights Watch’s Global Initiatives Director, Minky Worden, added: “The Qatari authorities’ lack of response to the Working Group’s determination about the violations of fair trial rights in Abdullah Ibhais’ trial speaks volumes. Ibhais faced retaliation for simply raising concerns on widespread and well-documented migrant worker abuses like wage delays. The Qatari authorities should immediately release him and compensate him for the unjust persecution he faced.”

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