The Swiss Journalism Club witnessed on Tuesday a new round of presenting Al-Ghufran tribe case to the world, on the violations by the Hamad regime in Qatar. This is further evidence that what the Qatari regime is ranting on about its concern and respect for human rights is but just a thin layer, with which it wants to cover its inhumane acts, including those against the Qatari people themselves, who have been subjected to the ugliest kinds of violations. These violations began with the withdrawal of citizenships, forced deportation from the country and deprivation from the basic services, including health, education, and social services, among others. Even children of Al-Ghufran tribe were not exempt from these violations, causing them to live a life of displacement and deprivation as well as the withdrawal of citizenship, the way the Hamad regime did with their fathers. The sons of Al-Ghufran tribe held a press conference at the Swiss Journalism Club in which they cast light on their sufferings and the Qatari National Committee for Human Rights not complying with the Paris principles organizing independence of the national institutions for human rights and their ineffectiveness as a national mechanism for human rights. This was proved by the committee by its ignoring the complaints of Al-Ghufran tribe till now. The sons of Al-Ghufran tribe appealed to the international community and rights organizations to support their cause and help them restore their rights, usurped by the Hamad regime in Qatar, by restoring their citizenship, legal pursuit and punishment of everyone who has caused harm to them. In the press conference at the Swiss Journalism Club, Dr. Ali Al-Marri stressed the gravity of the violations of the law, their contravention of the International Convention on Human Rights, and all international charters on human rights. Dr. Ali Al-Marri drew attention to the fact that despite these violations having started in 1996, they are continuing through the Qatari Ministry of Interior and the Human Rights Committee. There is dire need to stop these violations especially since the sons of Al-Ghufran tribe are still displaced and suffering within their country and abroad since 22 years from the repercussions of stripping them of their citizenships, subjecting them to forced displacement and racial discrimination, which the Hamad regime in Qatar practiced against them relentlessly. Dr. Ali Al-Marri asserted that depriving the sons of Al-Ghufran tribe from the citizenship of their mother country has come despite increasing the efforts by the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the rest of the UN and international organizations to counter the state of not having one's citizenship at a time when the suffering of thousands of original Qataris is continuing. They are being deprived of their citizenship as an unprecedented collective punishment anywhere in the world and this is being carried out without any investigation or trial for those who were stripped of their nationalities, their properties confiscated as well as those of their families. Furthermore, their sons' future has been destroyed, as one of the results of divesting them of their citizenships by the Hamad regime. In the press conference, Sheikh Rashed Al-Amrah, who is one of the sons of Al-Ghufran tribe, who were stripped of their citizenships, has asserted that Al-Ghufran tribe is an ancient and original part of the Qatari social and family fabric. He stressed that what occurred to them at the hands of the Hamad regime and as a result of their taking the side of his father, Sheikh Khalifa, who Hamad overthrew and took over power, was and still is a systematic series of violations. Sheikh Rashed mentioned a historical fact, which all the people of Qatar know – the sons of Al-Ghufran tribe were not the only ones who took this stance, but Hamad, since his taking over power, restricted the matter to Al-Ghufran tribe, only to start a series of violations against them. These included dispossessing them of their properties, stripping them of their citizenship and depriving them of all services – including health, education and social services, among others. Al-Ghufran tribe member Saleh Al-Hamran appealed to the Qatari government to restore their citizenships. He stressed that all the Qatari families, including Al Thani, know his family. He demanded of the international and Arab organizations working in the field of human rights to help him see his father and brothers. Al-Hamran said that some 27 people from the Al-Hamran tribe had been stripped of their citizenship, without their committing any mistake or any trial. Al-Hamran announced that he was ready to undergo a trial in Qatar before the world public opinion if they announce what crime he has committed.
