Human rights activists have urged the Australian government to intervene and bring an Australian grandfather imprisoned in Qatar. Amnesty International in Australia has called on Secretary of State Maryse Payne to demand that Doha release the 70-year-old Joseph Sarlak, who has been in a prison in Qatar since About three years.
The Australian website 9NEWS reported that the family of grandfather Joseph feared that he could die if not released, because he has heart problems and other serious health problems, pointing out that the Australian grandfather, who has three children, and two grandchildren, was imprisoned in Qatar in 2016, due to allegations of bounced checks related to his own construction company, believed to have never been tried, had no lawyer, and was forced to sign a confession in Arabic.
"Grandpa Joseph spent three years in prison behind bars, and although the criminal charges for bounced checks have been resolved, he is still imprisoned because he no longer has a valid visa and is no longer able to obtain a new visa without a Qatari sponsor."
Tim O'Connor, an Amnesty International activist in Australia, said Secretary Payne had to intervene in order to release her grandfather, adding that he deserved help from the government, which was not too late to intervene with the help of other nationalities.
"We have asked the government to make offers to the Qatari authorities and work with the Immigration Department to get a visa for him to leave Qatar, which is something the Australian government can easily handle," he said.
"His family has serious concerns about his health, because he has heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and arthritis, and wants to bring him home as soon as possible. We certainly encourage the State Department to act now. Grandpa Joseph must return to his family as soon as possible," he said. ».
Similarly, Amir (Grandfather Joseph's brother) called on the Australian government to intervene. “The whole family hopes this nightmare will end soon,” he said. “We look forward to our Australian government showing some concern about the health of the old grandfather after three difficult years.” "Joseph is not a criminal, but a simple businessman trapped by a member of the ruling family in Qatar. The whole family has suffered a lot over the past three years."
The website quoted Joseph as confirming that he had been wrongly imprisoned since July 2016, at the request of his former business partner in Qatar, a member of the Qatari ruling family.
The site shows that the Australian grandfather is not responsible for the bounced checks, because although he was a business partner, he did not control daily operations due to Qatari laws requiring foreigners to have a local sponsor. After the company's debts escalated, Joseph was forced to sign a confession in Arabic and thrown into prison.
When 9NEWS contacted the Qatari embassy in Canberra, it said it was studying the matter, while the Qatari Foreign Ministry in Doha did not respond to inquiries.
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Grandpa Joseph was receiving consular assistance, but declined to give further details.
The site noted that there are 3000 Australians working in Qatar can easily find themselves vulnerable to the dilemma faced by Grandpa Joseph, highlighting at the same time that Qatar is scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup, drowned in accusations of bribery and cover up the death of construction workers who built the stadiums Mega.