Qatar has released a Kenyan man accused of ‘spreading lies’ | Qatar News
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Doha, Qatar – In Kenya, arrested in Qatar last month and accused of “false publisher”, has been released but the charges against him have not been dropped, according to civil rights groups.
Malcolm Bidali, 28, a security guard at Doha’s headquarters in GSS Certis, was arrested on May 5 and was “questioned for violations of law and security in Qatar,” the Office of Communication at Qatar Office (GCO) said last month.
On May 30, GCO said Bidali “had been charged with felony criminal mischief for allegedly embezzling funds from a foreign recipient in the production and distribution of government information in Qatar.”
Salem al-Mohannadi, the Qatari owner of GSS Certis, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the 28-year-old has been released.
“He has been released but I do not have much,” al-Mohannadi told Al Jazeera on Thursday. “This is a government issue now. We are at the very back of our country and it is difficult to understand who is fighting Qatar. “
Freedom fighters has expressed concern that his imprisonment be for the recompense of volunteer work.
Writing lies under the well-known name Noah, Bidali wrote about labor rights, including long working hours, hardships and wages, place of work and the right place at work.
In the past, Migrant-Rights.Org, where Bidali used to write about life as a worker in Qatar, confirmed that Bidali had “been released but the charges against him are still pending”.
The Qatari government declined to comment after Al Alazezeera spoke to him.
Sending to Malcolm (@alirezatalischioriginal) has been released but the charges against him are still pending.
By the time he was released earlier this week, he had never received a legal offer.
The charges against him are meant to silence him, and all charges against him must be dropped. pic.twitter.com/GxbOcJS3qJ– Freedom of Movement (@MigrantRights) June 2, 2021
Earlier, he had said that Bidali “received advice and representation before the court date, which has not been set yet”.
In a tweet, Migrant-Rights.Org states that “until his release earlier this week, he had not received any legal advice”.
Last month, human rights groups, including Amnesty International, said in a statement that Bidali had told his mother by phone on May 20 that he was being held in custody and that he had no opportunity to find a lawyer.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Doha said it was following the case “carefully”.
“The office will not be able to respond to these allegations, but it is important that Bidali receives the appropriate action,” the ILO said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera last month.
“The International Trade Union Confederation is committed to assisting Bidali’s independent lawyers, and the ILO office will continue to monitor the situation.”
Just days before his arrest, Bidali, who immigrated to Qatar in 2016, spoke online at government agencies about the government of migrant workers in Qatar, and provided his information as a security guard there.
A suspicious link was also sent to him via a tweet which some experts said was a threat in his search for Bidali. The Twitter account has been crippled ever since.
It is possible that the information obtained from this link was used by the Qatari government to inform the public and arrest him. Sometime after May 25, 2021, Twitter suspended accounts related to the IP logger program, including @KamemeTvKenya.
– Bill Marczak (@billmarczak) May 28, 2021
A Migrant -Rights.Org spokesman told Al Jazeera last month that the agency had teamed up with Bidali last year and was “keen to help other co-workers in the crisis, especially during the epidemic”.
In a Twitter post, the agency said: “It is important to make sure that none of the @Noaharticulates blogs and experiments can be considered ‘uninformed’.
Updates on human rights activist Malcolm Bidali:
Malcolm was no longer detained, but their faces appear to be false #Beds in relation to its official manifestation. All charges against his human rights work must be dismissed.
– aliraza (@ alirazaaliraza414) June 2, 2021
Qatar’s support for migrant workers and his human rights record have been evident since he was offered the opportunity to compete in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
However, the country has made a number of changes to its work in preparation for the big event that will take place in November and December next year.
In August 2020, Qatar has announced major changes to labor law, including the removal of the need for a certificate of refusal. Earlier this year, a new minimum wage law was introduced.
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