LONDON (Reuters) - A British court on Thursday imposed an initial fine of $ 25,000 on the Qatari embassy in London in the case of racism against a former British employee of Somali origin, Mahmoud Ahmed, who was physically and verbally abused by the Qatari medical attaché in London.

The court said it had fined the embassy 20,000 pounds (about 25,000 dollars) in compensation for the costs of litigation incurred by the former embassy employee, the Al Ain news portal reported.

The British court added that another compensation will be determined later because of the damage suffered by the victim. During the session, the victim said that he "paid a heavy price of deteriorating health and carries a great psychological burden, in addition to financial losses due to racism and arbitrary dismissal by the Qatari embassy" .

He called on the court to fine the Qatari embassy and make recommendations for the rehabilitation of its diplomats to avoid such practices in the future, and to ensure that the abuses against him are not repeated against any other employees currently or in the future.

Ahmed had taken refuge in the British Labor Court in 2013 and accused the embassy and medical attaché Abdullah al-Ansari of arbitrary dismissal, discrimination and racism, but the court dismissed the case because the embassy and diplomat enjoyed immunity.

In 2018, the British Supreme Court ruled that diplomatic immunity did not protect embassies and diplomats from racism, which restored Ahmed's hope and encouraged him to return to court.

Al-Ansari and the embassy condemned the practice of discrimination and racism against the former employee. The newspaper Telegraph reported in a report that Al-Ansari was describing the employee as "the black slave."

Ansari, a former driver and security officer at the embassy, ​​Mahmoud Ahmed, was subjected to psychological and physical abuse for several years. He was summoned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Ahmed was dismissed from the embassy in 2013 and had hoped to pay his case to the court for years, but it was suspended for more than a year until a court of appeal ruled that embassies could not claim diplomatic immunity against lawsuits, making Ahmed able to complete his case. Ahmed told the court that he had suffered racial discrimination that made him feel "in prison," and that he was subjected to a physical attack twice between 2007 and 2013.