Exactly 12 months ago I interviewed one of the bravest women I had ever met in one of the most shocking news I had ever reported that Jane was among 13 Australian women who had been flown by planes. The Persian Gulf region of Qatar and was physically assaulted by airport authorities was a complete disgrace to the unnecessary conduct disposed of at that time around the world.
Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Maurice Payne vowed angrily that they would get an explanation for how and why but for a year now Jane and the other victims did not really hear anything, the silence was as if they were not there and their suffering did not occur police arrived by plane with guns and items.
I do not know if it was a state of captivity I do not know if it was the terrorist situation of listening to an Australian nurse jane describing her embarrassing grief at the hands of armed authorities.
At Qatar International Airport hurts today when she first described it last November we felt like criminals I kept thinking oh my God when they thought that.
I am guilty of what would happen to me in this country to think that such paganism could exist in the despicable 2020s but in Qatar, such cruelty seems to be the case authorized.
It was incredibly wrong but we struggled because we all wondered why and we could not choose Jane and the 12 other Australians.
Women were physically abused as they passed through the Persian Gulf region where they had been targeted because they had just been born.
The baby was found abandoned at the airport and Qatari police believe the crime was committed and they were determined to find their mother almost miraculously women of childbearing age were recruited again.
I was compelled to check for unusual internal tests and entered. The ambulance was a woman there and all she said to me was that one line of the child had been found in the bin again.
We need to test you I don't understand what was going on in your mind when you said we should test you I said they are testing me.
What I will do now is a grossly disturbing offensive concerning set of events that shocked the father of daughters that I could do.
It is shocking when news of an incident is reported for the first time that our leaders have promised that action will be taken which we consider unacceptable as an official message.
Because it is unacceptable but for a year there has been no response. in addition to their ongoing oppression, I thought we would now be kidnapped.
We would become political militants we would be raped and my children would be taken away we would never see the family again.
It was the scariest time of my life it was October 2 last year and 13 unsuspecting Australian women were among the passengers boarding.
On a Qatar Airways flight at Doha, airport en route to Sydney anna and her baby boy were in line 17. I look forward to getting home it was the biggest relief I remember on a plane you know
I come home and was very happy.
I think everyone on the plane was very happy a few seats away from Anna it was Sophie fleeing a hidden area that was destroyed in London due to limited safety in Australia it was a relief.
When she finally boarded the plane yes it was time to get on the plane from the there was an unexplained delay. It took four frustrating hours before the doors of the plane suddenly opened and armed security guards stormed in.
Passes and that just for me everything just fell silent and you know the ringing in the ears started.
When you were stressed you know what was going on everyone just stared in a panic looking around for answers trying to catch him.
Who works on a plane and asks what's going on I think everyone's face just said it was a scary moment especially to see.
The guards, who were wearing black gears and machine guns, were ordered to disembark at the airport and be dropped off at the airport tarmac.
This was the time when I broke down and some women started to feel uncomfortable because we saw that something bad was happening here.
I just cried and squeezed my baby and shivered because I didn't want to go into the elevator with the arm guards and I didn't even know where we were going without saying anything.
A series of ambulances that happened next is harrowing I don't understand so he asked me if I would sleep on the table if there was a table in the ambulance.
I did the same and put myself on a doctor's note and went to bed thinking I didn't know what was going to happen to me
he asked me if we should take off our pants and I remember thinking that this was weird.
Why do I have to take off my pants yes take off my pants
so I pulled them down and walked away we needed to take off our underwear and I said I did not feel comfortable taking off my underwear.
I was also holding them physically and she is like no no they need to come down I said I don't like why I was just shocked at that moment.
I don't know what's going on I remember lying thinking this is not right this is not the way it should be this is not the way to do it as Jane Sophie is scared.
He didn't know what was going to happen but he did it spontaneously and wanted another woman to get him in the ambulance.
I think it was a good kind of quick thinking for me that I felt I wasn't going alone in the ambulance he was going to. to close the door and then I'll call you.
If you don't know anyone so we both went in it just meant you know there is a witness there is someone but anna is not her only luck the company was her five-month-old baby. the son as a local nurse put him in an ambulance.
He said I need you to sleep um on the bed and I'm like what because I can't sleep in the bed he tells me right now what is going on and this time he put it on we got the baby.
In the toilet, we are looking for a mother and I am just kidding this is my baby too I thought it would be you who knew
he would just fill my stomach over my clothes.
So when I just felt him grab me under my pants and underwear he took it off and for a moment I thought my head was about to explode because I didn't know what.
It just so happened that he said he could go for the test which took about five minutes when they had just finished the women were immediately taken back to the plane.
I felt very angry I felt so angry. I left the ambulance that I did not have a strong voice that would allow me to happen that maybe.
I did not argue enough before you knew um and yes you felt
I have no strength to stand against what has just happened
it is a disgrace and an abuse of power to violate my human rights.
No one is allowed to touch me no one is allowed to strip me naked without my permission and that happened and it happened at one of the biggest airports in the world with a large airline.
It is shocking and I think you know you should be shocked because it should never have happened it is a disgrace that the Qatari authorities were in a position to simply take the women off.
The planes and forces them to undergo an invasive gynecological test.
Works for a human rights watch in London. This was a Qatar Airways flight recently launched in Doha and on its way to Australia says Qatar is a dangerous country for women with strict rules including imprisonment for having children out of wedlock.
A woman who had given birth to a child abandoned it by a traveling criminal so we are in a situation where I could see it
an immediate response that.
We should find that woman and we should imprison her for a year with the pain of abuse of women who have been abused and now have the anger.
They feel because they have forgotten and while those responsible may think they go about their evil deeds they mistake these women they make a bold decision that will not stop by and let this happen and let go of it.
We want to see this prime minister over a year ago Australian women were fired from a Qatar airline and searched and talked a lot about how long the Australian government has been doing to help.
When the Qatar 908 airliner finally flew from Doha to Sydney on October 2 last year most of the passengers were shocked and could not believe their will.
Because the local police were searching for the mother of a newborn abandoned baby the attack was cruel and unnecessary.
It made it very difficult for the members who had to enter the solitary confinement of the hotel when they arrived in Australia.
I was very traumatized and so shocked by the incident that they entered the hotel room for two weeks.
There was so much to consider that I do not think I can handle that part of what Sophie did even though she called the Australian federal police and an investigation was launched and Qatari paganism spread quickly around the world.
I remember when I first heard it. a report that some women had been taken off the plane for a gynecological examination and it amazed me so much that a women's rights activist rather than begum was shocked to hear about the shameful conduct not only of the Australian people.
He said there was an unknown number of other victims and we did not know that the number of women who were tested in these tests was 10 more planes where women were promoted.
They will do whatever it takes to ensure that the image is elevated they thought they could brush it down Qatar, a small but rich country, has long been accused of human rights abuses during a series of scandals at the airport.
A highly criticized investigation in Doha found one official guilty of all the scandals. He was sentenced to life in prison but did not return to prison.
It was not just one policeman who did this whether or not it was really their number so I think it was missing yes I would say that very little response in 12 months would still be a sensible act by the Canberra Qatar ambassador.
Injury insults even though acknowledging the letter that the Australian women had sent him was almost a one-year mark where we had not received a reply and apologized for thinking.
It was okay to be led into the ambulances by choice but we 'have chosen now we have a voice now and it would be a disservice that I saw here was a group of women who tried even time to take the sound tone and trying to combine the effect with Qatar.
The authorities and are being ignored sometimes you need to use a legitimate solution in situations where morality or even politics.
Although national pressure was not going well even a daisy we need to do more in the way of research attorney Damian star Zaker who specializes in international law and human rights at the Sydney law firm and now represents seven out of 13 Australians in some form.
A solution to the problem is about to start a war with the state-owned airline Qatar. The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority accuses them of battery and depriving women of their freedom.
Which happens to be the mascot in Tullamarine this battle of David and Goliath does not mean that you cannot take on a more serious defendant than another foreign country and obviously, Qatar planes are controlled by the state and we want a positive outcome.
They and good steps are taken to ensure the safety of women and generally men crossing Doha is probably not surprising but Qatar does not seem to be at all concerned about the best allegations an ambassador can say.
They were considering a women's complaint Qatar airways even dismissed the refusal to meet or mediate with the women and said their claim was unjustified by the airline's response mocking.
It's a glittering advertising trip with an airline that you can clearly rely on. to all of you ladies to completely break everything.
They pretend to be this airline that wins all awards with the best customer experience and service and you know all these awards.
I thought they would know better we haven't heard a single word, not a letter not an email, not a text message nothing but one apology, However, it is not just the answer.
Qatar authorities humiliate Anna and Sophie and I expect the premier, a women's rights activist, to be the first to jump in and say that these women need protection and need answers to give them the answers we both asked.
The prime minister and foreign minister interviewed but said no it was a very bad thing for those women and yes I had a strong opinion on that but on Friday at a press conference Scott Morrison said the government has experienced it.
The shame you talk so much about at the time I apologize for what the Australian government did to better serve my interests and there has been a major change in Qatar airport procedures you would think if Doha airport admitted its failure and changed.
Its practices the women involved would have been the first to know about it but they told us they had not heard anything from Qatar or Canberra.
Do you think the Australian government has done enough? No, I don't think we have been ignored and yes the Australian government has never received strong support and we feel very angry about this for women.
To tolerate the same treatment and frankly we want that apology we want someone to reach out to us and listen to this from us you can't just pretend nothing happened hoping you go away because it won't go away now we are angry.
