Five Australian women have sued the Qatari government two years after they were pulled off a plane and subjected to invasive medical procedures as part of an investigation into the abandonment of a newborn in an airport bathroom. While Qatar has said it will review the protocols, the women say they want the country to enact policy changes to prevent a repeat of what happened to them. Their lawyer, Damian Sturzaker, said that court papers were filed in Australia last week and served to the state-owned Qatar Airways on Thursday, and that legal papers would also be sent to Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. The women are seeking unspecified damages and costs. Qatar Airways, the aviation authority and the government communications office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The five women were among more than a dozen who were escorted off a Qatar Airways flight by guards carrying guns after the newborn was found at Hamad International Airport, in the Qatari capital, Doha, in October 2020.

Some of them were forced to remove their underwear and subjected to an invasive examination to see if they had recently given birth, one of the women told The New York Times in 2020, while older women had their stomachs pressed. The five women, whose ages range from 33 to 75, are suing Qatar Airways and the Civil Aviation Authority over what they call unlawful physical contact and mental trauma that has continued to this day. All five suffered or continue to suffer from illnesses like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to documents filed in Supreme Court in the Australian state of New South Wales. The women names have been suppressed by the court. One of them, a 33-year-old nurse, said in an interview that she had not traveled since. It completely changed me as a person, that day, she said.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP