Authorities in Qatar continue to target prominent human rights defender Abdullah Al-Maliki at all levels, as part of their efforts to force him to return to the country and put him in prison for a long period or execute him, due to his peaceful and legitimate activities in the field of human rights.
Refusal to renew his official documents
On 06 December 2023, during a meeting that took place between him and the Qatari Consul, Radhi Suwaid Al-Ajmi, in the Qatari Consulate building in Munich, Germany in the presence of the advisor at the Consulate, Iman Mohammed Al-Hail, the Consul officially informed him of the government’s refusal to renew his official Qatari documents, including his passport and ID card.
The Qatari Embassy in Berlin and the Qatari Consulate in Munich have rejected all requests to renew Al-Maliki’s passport and identity card that he has submitted numerous times since January 2021. This has taken place under direct orders from the State Security Apparatus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Emiri Court in Qatar, in contravention of local and international laws.
The Qatari Ambassador to Germany, Abdullah Mohammed Saud Al Thani, categorically refused to renew Al-Maliki’s passport in two official letters sent to him dated 24 August and 23 September 2021.
Despite this, on 18 October 2023, Al-Maliki visited the Qatari embassy in Berlin to renew his passport and ID card, but he was treated very poorly by the embassy’s employees, and the next day he received a call from one of its employees informing him of the refusal to renew all of his official documents.
Freezing his bank accounts and dismissing him from his job
On 28 November 2023, he was notified by a Qatari bank official that his bank account had been frozen as of 18 August 2023, due to the Qatari government’s refusal to renew his ID card.
On 30 August 2021, the Qatari Prime Minister dismissed him from his government job, effectively from April 2019, in a measure that aimed to strip him of any source of income with which he could meet the demands of life with his family and children living in Qatar.
Public Prosecutor calls for him to be executed
On 27 October 2022, the Qatari Public Prosecutor, according to local reports, following direct orders issued by the State Security Apparatus, appealed the initial life sentence issued in absentia against human rights defender Abdullah Al-Maliki, insisting that it be replaced by the death penalty by firing squad or hanging to death.
On 26 May 2022, the Criminal Court sentenced Al-Maliki to life imprisonment after holding only two hearings, without informing him, in a trial that lacked the minimum international standards for fair trial and legal procedures.
In this show trial, Al-Maliki faced charges of allegedly “publicly challenging the emir’s exercise of his powers and dishonouring himself,” “inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime,” and “attempting to overthrow the regime.”
Direct targeting of his peaceful activity
In addition to judicial harassment, Al-Maliki was subjected to many other forms of direct targeting. On 13 July 2022, Al-Maliki was at a peaceful gathering organised by a number of human rights activists in the popular Marienplatz Square in Munich, when it was repeatedly attacked by groups of more than 15 Qatari citizens who were mobilised by the State Security Apparatus and sent to Germany to carry out a specific mission of sabotaging this peaceful protest calling for freedom, justice, equality, democracy and the release of detainees in Qatar. The German authorities were informed of this attack.
Other forms of harassment
Another form of harassment, confirmed by reliable local reports, is the Qatari government’s attempt to confiscate Al-Maliki’s property and money and the property and money of his children in Qatar. The Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Government Office, and the Qatar News Agency have filed numerous fabricated civil lawsuits against him, including the allegation that he is cut off from his work duties since April 2019, after they first claimed that he had been out of work since August 2021. The Ministry of Interior also rejected a request submitted by one of his colleagues inside Qatar more than once to renew his personal ID card, which caused many problems for him and his children as well, including depriving them of their rights to his income, so far.
All the malicious criminal and civil cases filed against him inside Qatar, which numbered more than five cases, occurred in the years 2022 and 2023, despite the fact that he had left his country since 28 September 2016, which confirms their loss of credibility and that he is being targeted for his peaceful human rights work.
It is worth noting that the Qatari government refused to provide guarantees for Al-Maliki’s safety on 05 June 2020, when he intended to return to Qatar to transfer his mother to receive treatment in Europe at his own expense. Thus, he was unable to do anything, and this led to the collapse of her health condition and her death on 26 June 2020.
Applying for political asylum
After being exposed to all these direct and indirect threats, legal cases and harassment, which put his life in grave danger, on 31 January 2024, Al-Maliki applied for political asylum in Germany. This was his only option that would guarantee him full protection and preserve his right to a free and dignified life.
In a special statement to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), Al-Maliki said, “The State Security Apparatus, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Emiri Court are all delusional if they think that with their repeated targeting of me and my children, I will stop peaceful activities that include defending human rights in my country, Qatar, demanding democracy and fighting corruption.” Al-Maliki also stressed, “A person lives life once, so he and others must live it with freedom, dignity, justice, and equality wherever he is.”
Recommendations
The government of Qatar must stop targeting prominent human rights defender Abdullah Al-Maliki immediately and unconditionally, cancel the life sentences issued against him, and stop calling for the death penalty in his legal cases. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) believes that he is being targeted because of his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities. The authorities in Qatar must renew all of his official Qatari documents, including his passport and ID card, and refrain from targeting his family members inside Qatar.
GCHR calls on the government of Germany, on whose territory Al-Maliki practices his peaceful human rights activities, to grant him full protection as soon as possible, as he desperately needs it at the present time.
