Arab Federation for Human Rights calls on UN to intervene in Al-Murrah case

The United Nations is being called on to intervene in the unraveling issue of the al-Ghufran branch of Al-Murrah tribe in Qatar, many of whom were left displaced after Doha stripped them of their citizenship.

 

Members of al-Ghufran branch of the Al-Murrah family accused Qatari authorities of launching “a systematic repression and injustice campaign” against their tribe, according to a report by the Arab Federation for Human Rights.

Qatari authorities had revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Taleb bin Lahom bin Shreim and 54 of his relatives, including 18 women and children, because he refused to follow their orders to criticize Saudi Arabia.

The call was made in Geneva by several of the family’s members during a meeting at the United Nations of human rights practitioners from Arab and European countries.

The meeting, entitled “International human Rights associations and the Ghufran Clan Issue” shed light on the conditions the clan have been put under since 1996 in Qatar including the revocation of the citizenship 56 Murrah tribe members last week including the tribal chief.

Members of the tribe appeared before the audience on Monday and shared the stories of their citizenship revocations.

One tribe member, Mohammed al-Marri, criticized the secretary general of the Qatari National Council on Human Rights, Ali Sumeigh al-Marri for not voiceing concerns and ignoring the infringements against his own tribesmen.

Mohammed al-Marri further criticized the Qatari attorney general Ali Futais Al Marri for his role and inaction to stop the violations committed against the tribe.

“We have waited 21 years and we will not wait any more, now we are having executions and burials because we are calling for our rights,” said another tribesman Salim al-Gufrani al-Marri.