10/26/2020 8:45 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/26/2020 8:45 AM
Several female passengers were subjected to
forced gynecological examinations
after the discovery of a
premature
newborn
abandoned in the bathrooms of the international airport of Doha, the capital of Qatar, an incident "extremely disturbing" for Australia.
The events, reported by Australian television Seven News, occurred on
October 2
and were reported by Australian passengers.
Australian Foreign Minister Marine Payne on Monday voiced
her country's disapproval.
"We have expressed our concerns very clearly to the Qatari authorities," he said, adding that the Australian federal police had taken up the matter.
Australian Foreign Minister Marine Payne strongly expressed her country's disapproval on Monday Photo: EFE
According to the Australian minister, a report from the Qatari authorities on this incident is "imminent".
The airport has limited itself to saying that the women were asked to
"participate"
in efforts to locate the baby's mother, who is alive, according to a statement.
A certain number of women, mainly Australian, had to disembark from various planes and were
transferred to ambulances
where they were tested to see if they had recently given birth.
In Qatar, Islamic law governs,
severely punishing
women who become pregnant outside of marriage.
"They forced women to undergo body examinations, mainly the Pap test by force (a smear)," said a source in Doha who was informed of an internal investigation into the incident on Sunday.
Doha International Airport stated that "medical staff expressed concern to airport authorities about the health and well-being of
a mother who had just given birth
and requested that they locate her before she left."
"People who had access to the sector of the airport where the newborn was found have been invited to participate in the search," added the airport authorities without specifying what was specifically asked of the women and how many were requested.
Due to the incident, one of the flights, the Sydney-bound
Qatar Airways
QR908, arrived four hours late, according to surveillance site Flight Radar 24.
Women from
other countries and flights
were subjected to similar tests.
The incident is being investigated in Qatar, according to Seven News.
Doha airport asked the baby's mother to come forward on Sunday, hinting that
the tests were to no avail
.
"The newborn still has
not been identified
, but he is in good health and in the hands of medical and social personnel," the airport reported, asking anyone with information about the mother to provide it.
Payne acknowledged that some passengers reported the events to Australian officials "at the time of the flight" to Sydney, which was delayed.
An Australian Sydney lawyer, Wolfgang Babeck, who was a passenger on one of the affected flights, said that the women undergoing the examinations had returned to the plane
"in shock",
after having had to partially undress to be examined by a doctor.
"All were shocked, some angry, one was crying and no one could believe what had just happened," said Babeck, who believes that the incident could constitute "a violation of international law."
.
The Qatar Airways company has declined to comment on what happened.
AFP
ap
