Rights groups: Qatar presses for freedom abroad, but not at home

Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Qatar, the leading supporter of Islamist revolts in Syria, has responded harshly to domestic criticism.

Western human rights organizations assert that the Gulf Cooperation
Council emirate has imprisoned dissidents without trial. In at least one
case, a critic was secretly placed in solitary confinement.

Mohammed Al Ajami.

Over the last two years, Qatar has been supporting Islamist revolts in
such countries as Egypt, Libya and Syria. The emirate, which in 2008
established the Doha Center for Media Freedom, was said to impose heavy
restrictions on freedom of expression, leaving the media to resort to
self-censorship.

“Qatar’s commitment to freedom of expression is only as good as its
laws, which in this case do not meet the international standards it
professes to support,” Joe Stork, a director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said.

Stork and other human rights representatives have appealed to Qatar to release what they termed a “prisoner of conscience” in emirate. They identified the detainee as Mohammed Al Ajami, detained since November 2011 for a poem that allegedly offended Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.

In 2011, Al Ajami wrote a poem that praised the revolt in Tunisia. The
prosecution said Al Ajami was actually being prosecuted for a poem released in 2010 in which the emir was allegedly criticized, an offense that carries
a five-year sentence. Human rights groups said Al Ajami was also accused of
“inciting to overthrow the ruling system,” punishable by death.

“Mohammed Al Ajami has now spent almost a year behind bars in solitary
confinement apparently solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom
of expression,” Philip Luther, a director at the London-based Amnesty
International, said. “If that is the case, he would be considered a prisoner
of conscience and should be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Amnesty said Al Ajami, believed languishing in the Central Prison in
Doha, has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest.

“Qatar must relax restrictions on freedom of expression and ensure

poets, bloggers, journalists and everyone else are allowed to speak their
minds without fear of facing incommunicado detention, secret trials and
other harsh repercussions.” Luther said.

In June 2012, Qatar introduced legislation that could target the media
for any criticism of the emir. The draft law also outlaws criticism of other
Gulf Cooperation states, with a fine of up to $275,000.

“If Qatar is serious about providing regional leadership on media
freedom it should remove the problematic provisions from its draft media law
and drop all charges against Mohammed Al Ajami that solely relate to his
exercise of free speech,” Stork said.

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