A group of women are taking on Qatar Airways in a ‘David and Goliath’ legal battle after they were ordered off a Sydney-bound flight at Doha Hamad International Airport in October 2020 and subjected to invasive vaginal exams.
Seven of the thirteen Australian victims on board the 2nd October 2020 flight have filed a lawsuit against the government-owned airline and the Qatari Civil Aviation Authority, accusing them of assault, battery and deprivation of liberty.
The lawsuit comes after Qatar Airways allegedly refused to meet with the victims. The airline says their legal claim is “without merit” according to Australia’s 60 Minutes show which reinterviewed three of the women a year on from their harrowing ordeal at Qatar Airways’ hub.
The women were travelling home to Australia having secured sought-after places in hotel quarantine and were initially relieved when they got onboard Qatar Airways flight QR902 to Sydney. But then things took a sinister turn.
Passengers were left waiting onboard the plane for four hours with no explanation from staff before all the women were ordered off the aircraft by black-clad armed guards.
“There was a message over the loudspeaker ‘can all women disembark the aeroplane with their passports’,” explained Sophie, one of the victims who described how passengers were left in shock and trying to gather more information from the cabin crew.
Another victim, known only as Jane, feared something terrible was about to happen. “Police officers were coming on the plane and they had guns and things. I didn’t know if it was a hostage situation, if it was a terrorist situation,” she told 60 Minutes.
“We felt like criminals really. I kept thinking, oh my goodness, if they think I’m guilty of something, what’s going to happen to me in this country?”
The 13 women were led into a lift and…