A part of the exhibition held in fromt of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva (Photo: Ahram Online)
Members of Qatar's Al-Ghufran tribe organized an exhibition to document the violations made by the Qatari regime against their tribe on Monday in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva, calling upon the international community to take action.
Al-Ghufran, one of the largest tribes in the small Gulf country, slammed Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's regime for violating international agreements by torturing and forcefully displacing its members and depriving them of their Qatari nationality.
The exhibition comes within the framework of a series of activities carried out by the tribe in Geneva last week to shed the light on the sufferring and oppression of the tribe's members.
The exhibition also comes in the framework of a broader sense to communicate their voice to the world through participation in the 39th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, currently held in Geneva.
"The international community must stop turning a blind eye to violations made against the Al-Ghufran tribe by the Qatari regime," said Mohamed Saleh al-Ghafzani, one of the sons of tribe who participated in the exhibition.
Al-Ghafzani said that they are trying to document all the violations made by the Qatari regime against them.
"We are trying from Geneva to communicate our voice in every way possible, whether through an exhibition, interviews, seminars and press conferences and we will not stop until we get our stolen rights returned," said al-Ghafzani.
"We are talking to everyone who comes in and out of the United Nations building about our crisis; after stripping our people of their nationality, there is nothing else to lose," he continued.
On 17 September, a delegation of the Al-Ghufran tribe met with Mohamed El Nsour, the head of the Middle East and North Africa Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, to deliver a letter addressed to the commissioner summarizing part of the tribal tragedy since 1996.
The letter referred to the crimes committed by the Doha regime against the tribe, including racial discrimination, forced displacement, denial of repatriation, imprisonment and torture, which led to "psychological disorders and the deaths of many tribesmen inside the Qatari intelligence prisons."
The delegation referred to a petition submitted on 21 September last year to the assistant high commissioner for the Middle East and North Africa.
The petition also expressed regret that the authorities in Doha, including the Emir of Qatar, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General, the President of the National Human Rights Commission and senior security officials, were informed and aware of the suffering of all victims of racial discrimination.
The letter pointed out that Qatari officials are deeply involved and are working to hide many facts of the crime from the eyes of international justice and humanitarian organizations.
Short link: