UK rights workers go missing in Qatar

Two British human rights activists have disappeared in Qatar and are feared to be held in detention by the country’s security forces, the Norwegian human rights group that employs them says.

The Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) said in a statement on Wednesday that Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev had disappeared in the Qatari capital, Doha, after sending texts to colleagues, saying they were “being harassed and followed by Qatari police.”

The group said it has not heard from the two for more than four days and fears that they may have been detained while investigating the plight of migrant laborers constructing facilities for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup.

Britain confirmed the reports about the two men, saying it is probing the alleged detention of two human rights workers in Qatar.

“We are aware of reports that two British nationals have been detained in Qatar and we are investigating,” a spokesperson for the British embassy in Doha said.

Qatar has been strongly criticized for the working conditions of many migrant workers as Doha races to renovate infrastructure ahead of the sport event. The rights group Amnesty International has in a recent report said workers suffer “alarming” levels of exploitation such as dangerous working conditions and non-payment of wages in Qatar’s construction sector ahead of the World Cup.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), at least 4,000 migrant workers could die before the tournament kicks off in eight years if the current conditions do not change.

MOS/HJL