Qatar detains dozens of workers protesting over late pay before World Cup

Qatar recently arrested at least 60 foreign workers who protested after going months without pay, and deported some of them, an advocacy group has said three months before Doha hosts the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar faces intense international scrutiny over its labour practices ahead of the tournament. Like other Gulf Arab nations, Qatar heavily relies on foreign labour, and the workers’ protest a week ago — and Qatar’s reaction to it — could further fuel the concern.

The head of a labour consultancy investigating the incident said the detentions cast new doubt on Qatar’s pledges to improve the treatment of workers. “Is this really the reality coming out?” asked Mustafa Qadri, executive director of Equidem Research.

In a statement to the Associated Press on Sunday night, Qatar’s government acknowledged that “a number of protesters were detained for breaching public safety laws”. It declined to offer any information about the arrests or any deportations.

Video footage posted online showed 60 workers protesting on August 14 outside the Doha offices of Al Bandary International Group, a conglomerate that includes construction, property, hotels, food service and other ventures.

Some of those demonstrating had not received salaries for as many as seven months, Equidem said.

The protesters blocked an intersection on Doha’s C Ring Road in front of the Al Shoumoukh Tower. The footage matched known details of the street, including several massive portraits of Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The Qatari government acknowledged that Al Bandary International Group had not paid salaries and that its Labour Ministry would pay “all delayed salaries and benefits” to those affected.

“The company was already under investigation by the authorities for non-payment of wages before the incident, and now further action is being taken after a deadline to settle outstanding salary payments was missed,” the government said.

Mr Qadri said police later arrested the protesters and held them in a detention centre where some described being in stifling heat without air conditioning. Doha’s temperature this week reached around 41C.

He said police told the detainees that if they could strike in hot weather, they could sleep without air conditioning.

One detained worker who called Equidem from the detention centre described as many as 300 of his colleagues there from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Nepal and the Philippines. He said some had been paid salaries after the protest while others had not.

Qatar, like other Gulf Arab nations, has in the past deported demonstrating foreign workers, and tied residency visas to employment. The right to form unions remains tightly controlled and available only to Qataris, as is the country’s limited right to assembly, according to Washington-based advocacy group Freedom House.

The small, energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula, is home to the state-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network.

However, expression in the country remains tightly controlled. Last year, Qatar detained and later deported a Kenyan security guard who wrote and spoke publicly about the woes of the country’s migrant labour force.

Since Fifa awarded the tournament to Qatar in 2010, the country has taken some steps to overhaul the country’s employment practices, including eliminating its so-called kafala employment system, which tied workers to employers, who had say over whether they could leave their jobs or even the country.

Qatar also has adopted a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals (£232) for workers and required food and housing allowances for employees not receiving that directly from their employers.

Activists like Mr Qadri have called on Doha to do more, particularly when it comes to ensuring workers receive their salaries on time and are protected from abusive employers.

“Have we all been duped by Qatar over the last several years?” he asked, suggesting that recent reforms might have been “a cover” for authorities allowing prevailing labour practices to continue.

The World Cup will start in November.