Qatar Airways avoids Australian lawsuit over women’s invasive examinations
Five Australian women who underwent strip searches and invasive examinations at Doha airport have been unsuccessful in their attempt to sue Qatar Airways.
The incident occurred after they, along with other women, were taken off a flight and examined to determine if they had recently given birth, following the discovery of an abandoned baby in an airport bin in 2020.
This incident provoked widespread public outcry and drew condemnation from various nations.
Despite filing a claim in the Federal Court of Australia in 2021 seeking damages for alleged “unlawful physical contact” and false imprisonment, which resulted in mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the court ruled that the state-owned airline could not be held liable under the laws governing international air travel.
The lawsuit did not include passengers from the UK and New Zealand.
Justice John Halley, in his ruling on Wednesday, determined that Qatar Airways could not be held accountable under the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty used to establish airline liability in cases of passenger injury or death.
He also stated that the airline’s staff could not have influenced the actions of the Qatari police who removed the women from the flight, nor the nurses who conducted examinations in ambulances on the tarmac.
The judgment dismissed the proposition that the airline’s staff could have played a role in these actions, describing it as ‘fanciful, trifling, implausible, improbable, tenuous.’
Furthermore, Justice Halley dismissed the women’s case against Qatar’s aviation regulator, asserting its immunity from foreign prosecution.
However, he permitted them to pursue their claim against a subsidiary of Qatar Airlines called Matar, which is responsible for operating Hamad International Airport.
The women allege that Matar employees failed to prevent the invasive searches and argue that they were owed a duty of care.
The women have previously told the BBC they did not consent to the examinations and were not given explanations for what was happening to them.
“I felt like I had been raped,” said British grandmother Mandy, who asked to withhold her surname.
Another said she thought she was being kidnapped and held hostage.
At the time, Qatari officials said the abandoned baby was being cared for, and Prime Minister Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani tweeted: “We regret the unacceptable treatment of the female passengers… What took place does not reflect Qatar’s laws or values.”
The Gulf launched a criminal prosecution which led to a suspended jail term for an airport official.
But lawyer Damian Sturzaker in 2021 told the BBC the women were suing because of a perceived lack of action from Doha.
They wanted a formal apology from Qatar and for the airport to change its procedures to make sure the incident does not happen again.
“By speaking up, we want to ensure that no woman is ever subjected to the demoralising, horrendous treatment we were subjected to,” one of the women told the BBC.
