Family assaulted by airport employee

Doha • Police are investigating a physical and verbal assault against several members of a family at Doha International Airport yesterday

Abdul Basit, a photojournalist working for The Peninsula, and his family members were subject to severe physical and verbal assault by a Doha International Airport employee at the departure area yesterday afternoon.

Basit, along with his wife, two children aged four-and-a-half years and 18 months, his mother-in-law and father-in-law, had come to see off his brother-in-law and his wife as they headed off for Australia after paying a brief visit here from Turkey, where they live.

Basit had dropped off his family at the Departures Terminal and driven off to park his vehicle. The entire family had entered the departure area without any problems. However, when Basit tried to enter a few minutes later, an airport employee armed with a walkie-talkie, would not allow him through. Basit could not contact his wife as she was not carrying her cell phone at the time.

Basit says the man, although carrying a walkie-talkie, was in plain clothes and not wearing any uniform.

Basit said: "I then told him I was from the media, which earned me a torrent of filthy abuse in English. When I kept telling him my family was inside, he would not believe me. Then, my wife came through to explain to the officer I was indeed her husband. He then told me 'She is not your wife.'"

It was then the physical mayhem started. As the entire family came out to see what the hold-up was, the employee, using his walkie-talkie, lashed out. In the melee, Basit was physically manhandled, grabbed by the collar, his father-in-law hit on the jaw and his brother-in-law on the back. Basit's wife, who is eight months pregnant, was also caught up in the physical altercation.

"I put my arm in front to protect myself and my child. The walkie-talkie hit me on my hand," she said, showing the scratches. All this had taken place in front of the two children.

Basit's father-in-law, who suffers from a heart condition, was later admitted to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

Basit was taken to the security holding room before being released. A senior police officer later told the family: "This was the work of an airport employee. Our police would never behave that way."

While Basit was in the security holding room, his family, knowing his office colleagues were coming to help, made their way to the parking lot. When the family were leaving the airport, with the brother-in-law having left for Australia, the airport employee followed them all the way to the parking area and banged on their car with his walkie-talkie as they drove off. Onlookers stood by without trying to intervene in any manner, perhaps thinking the man was a policeman.

An airport official said the matter would be investigated, while Basit has filed a complaint with the Capital Police Station on the advice of airport police officers. On filing the complaint, along with documents from Hamad Hospital, Basit was asked to accompany police officers to the airport in order to identify the alleged perpetrator.

The employee could not be found there. However, the Capital police got the relevant information from their counterparts at the airport and obtained the man's telephone number and other details. At the time of going to press, they had summoned him to the police station, where charges are likely to be filed.

The Peninsula. 4'Oct 2008

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