initiative led by employers to allow workers’ came while he was appealing a five-year representation. The initiative fell far short of prison sentence handed down after an unfair the fundamental right of workers to form and trial based on a “confession” that was join trade unions. extracted under duress, and which he made without a lawyer present.4 On 15 December, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND a court rejected his appeal and sentenced ASSEMBLY him to three years in prison. Authorities continued to curtail freedom of WOMEN’S RIGHTS expression using abusive laws to stifle critical Women continued to face discrimination in voices. law and practice. Under the guardianship On 4 May, authorities forcibly disappeared system, women remained tied to their male Malcolm Bidali, a Kenyan security guard, guardian, usually their father, brother, blogger and migrant workers’ rights activist. grandfather or uncle, or for married women, They held him in solitary confinement for a to their husband. Women continued to need month and denied him access to legal their guardian’s permission for key life counsel. On 14 July, the Supreme Judiciary decisions to marry, study abroad on Council fined him under the controversial government scholarships, work in many cybercrime law for publishing “false news government jobs, travel abroad until certain with the intent of endangering the public ages, and receive some forms of reproductive system of the state”. The criminal order was healthcare. passed without Malcolm Bidali being formally Family laws continued to discriminate charged, brought before a court or informed against women by making it difficult for them of the criminal charges he faced. He left to divorce. Divorced women remained unable Qatar on 16 August after paying the heavy to act as their children’s guardian. 3 fine. In March, the government disputed the In early August, members of tribes, mainly findings of a Human Rights Watch report on the al-Murra tribe, protested against their discrimination against women in Qatar, and exclusion from the Shura Council elections. pledged to investigate and prosecute anyone On 8 August, the Interior Ministry stated that who had breached the law. By the end of the seven men had been arrested and referred to year, no such investigations had taken place. the public prosecution, accused of “using Noof al-Maadeed, a 23-year-old Qatari social media to spread false news and stir up woman who sought asylum in the UK citing racial and tribal strife”. Some were released family abuse, decided to return to Qatar after but others remained in detention without seeking reassurances from the authorities. access to their lawyers. She started documenting her journey on In November, two Norwegian journalists social media but was last heard from on 13 investigating the situation of migrant workers October after she reported threats from her were detained for trespassing and filming on family to the police. Despite reassurances private property, accusations the journalists from the authorities that she was safe, her refuted. They were questioned about their whereabouts remained unknown, raising reporting and had all their equipment fears about her safety. confiscated. They were released 36 hours later without facing any legal charges. LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Earlier in their trip, the two journalists had “Sodomy” or same-sex sexual conduct been due to interview Abdullah Ibhais, the between men remained an offence under the former communications director for Qatar’s Penal Code, punishable by up to seven years’ 2022 World Cup organizers, but he was imprisonment. Article 296 states that arrested on 15 November hours before the “leading, instigating or seducing a male in planned interview. His arbitrary detention any way to commit sodomy or dissipation” Amnesty International Report 2021/22 307