Aussie Women Strip-Searched At Doha Airport Lose Case Against Airline

Five Australian women who were allegedly strip searched and invasively examined at Doha Airport in 2020 lost their legal bid against Qatar Airways. On October 2, 2020, several women were pulled off 10 planes and forced to undergo gynaecological tests after a newborn baby was found abandoned in a women’s bathroom at the airport. In the recent development to the case filed in 2021, the Australian court found that Qatar Airways could not be prosecuted under the laws governing global travel. On April 10, 2024, Justice John Halley stated that the airline could not be held responsible under the Montreal Convention, which is used to establish airline liability in the event of death or injury to passengers.

Justice Halley also stated that the state-run airline staff could not be held responsible for the actions of Qatari police or the nurses who performed the invasive exams. Justice Halley said that the plaintiffs could pursue their claim against a subsidiary of Qatar Airlines called Matar, which is contracted to run the Hamad International Airport, Doha.

Details Of The Case

After an abandoned newborn baby was found in a bin at the Hamad International Airport, Doha, the Qatari police deployed a massive investigation into the case. Several women from 10 aircraft were offboarded at gunpoint and forced to undergo strip searches and gynaecological examinations in ambulances on the tarmac. 

Five women from Australia filed a claim in the Federal Court of Australia in 2021, seeking damages over "unlawful physical contact" and false imprisonment, which had caused mental health impacts including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Reportedly, women from several other countries were examined, including New Zealand and the UK.

A woman identified as Mandy told BBC, "I felt like I had been raped." Few other women shared their ordeals with Firstpost. Anna (name changed) on the lawsuit pointed out that the legal action is about “fighting for basic human rights. A nurse forcefully removed my underpants in the presence of my 5-month-old baby," Anna told the outlet. 

She said, “We also want an apology and an assurance that this incident is never repeated be it by Qatar Airways or any other airline." Anna has also been seeking therapy for the mental trauma she faced at the airport. Mandy told the BBC that she thought that she was going to be kidnapped and held hostage.

Qatar’s human rights record has been under the scanner since the 2022 FIFA World Cup after some tourists were barred from wearing clothes in support of the LGBTQ community. In the April 10, 2024, Court hearing, Justice Halley said that the proposition "can fairly be characterised as 'fanciful, trifling, implausible, improbable, tenuous'."