With reporting from Heba Fahmy
After nearly three years in jail in the UAE, a Qatari doctor who was convicted of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood has been released under a presidential pardon.
Dr. Mahmood Abdulrehman Al Jaidah, director of medical services at Qatar Petroleum, appears to be one of two nationals pardoned by Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al-Nahyan over the weekend in the name of preserving diplomatic ties.
Al Jaidah was first arrested in February 2013, while transiting through Dubai International Airport.
According to supporters, he was held for several months in a secret detention center and tortured by interrogators.
He was eventually formally charged and sentenced to seven years in prison last March for supporting the Brotherhood, which is a banned organization in the UAE.
Al Jaidah had denied the allegations against him, which included accepting an envelope with Dh100,000 (about QR100,000) from an Emirati to be handed over to another UAE citizen in Qatar.
In a series of tweets, one of his sons confirmed the doctor’s release:
الله اكبر الله الله اكبر
يارب لك الحمد وحدك ولك الشكر وحدك
خبر الافراج عن الوالد صحيح#الافراج_الجيدة_والحمادي
سجود شكر
الله اكبر ولله الحمد— حسن #محمود_الجيدة (@AlJaidah) May 22, 2015
Translation: God is the greatest, God is the greatest, God is the greatest. We thank (you only God). The news about releasing my father is correct. God is the greatest and thank God.
سجن سنتين ونصف ظلما
وهاهو والدي #محمود_الجيدة حرطليق بين اهله واحبابه
دعوة مظلوم صعدت إلى السماء فاستجابهاالكريم سبحانه
اللهم فرج عن الباقين— حسن #محمود_الجيدة (@AlJaidah) May 22, 2015
Translation: He was detained unjustly for two and a half years and here he is now; my father free amongst his people and loved ones. The prayer of the oppressed has risen to the sky and (God) responded to it. May God free the rest of them.
He also expressed solidarity with any other Qataris jailed in the UAE and urged their release.
Other cases
Last week, five Qatari nationals were handed prison terms and ordered to pay large fines after a court in the UAE convicted them for posting insulting images of that country’s royal family on Twitter and Instagram.
However, only one of the defendants was actually in custody, and the other four were sentenced in absentia.
In addition to pardoning Al Jaidah, Sheikh Khalifa is believed to have also pardoned that man, Hamad Al Hammadi, who had been ordered to spend 10 years in jail and pay a Dh1 million (~QR991,000) fine.
According to state news agency WAM, the move was to “strengthen the close fraternal relations between the leaderships and peoples of the two brotherly countries.”
Thoughts?
Imagine being kept against your will in another country. The family of this man seems overjoyed to have him back. Think about this Qatar.
It is not the same. This man is Qatari & the others you are referencing are just Indians and Nepalis and other Asians.
Families of Asian people do not miss their fathers and brothers and sisters..They are born to serve their Gulf masters and God is totally ok with that. (My Theory) and I could be wrong.
Deleting for stereotyping.
Stereotyping ?
So you want to tell me that the average Qatari person believes that the a migrant worker’s life is as valuable as theirs?
In fact, I think you Shabina are the one stereotyping most of us for fools if you claim that stating a clear fact like the one I stated is stereotyping.
What a subjective term you use Shabina. Life is full of stereotyping. You do it, I do it we all do it at every moment in time. This is called judgement by the trend. The human mind works like this miss Shabina. I heard a lot about you before joining here.
Let us see how long my criticism will last before you delete it for stereotyping.. or deviating from the topic.
wow…
Shabina does have her biases like the rest of us, on that we can agree. I have justifiably called her out on them, as have others, but let’s give credit where it is due, she has been getting much better, while most of us haven’t been.
Deleted for trolling.
I don’t think God had anything to do with his release, it was the UAE that let him out. If getting stuff from God by praying for it worked we would all do it and see immediate results. Not waiting three years.
I think Allah and everyone who believes in him has to do with it , its a pety on people who don’t
I guess you have to make sure you pray to right God to get the right result. Is it Zeus, Thor, Vishnu, Allah or various African animalistic deities? It’s so hard to know
The poor Nepalis praying for an Exit Permit to visit their devastated by earthquake families must be praying to the wrong God.
Well considering the earthquake is an act of God in the first place, they should have prayed for no natural disasters instead of EPs, this of course presuming they praying to the right one.
Or perhaps the employment agents and the sponsors prayed to God to hit Nepal with an earthquake so that more Nepalis seek jobs in the Gulf.
Maybe god told the UAE to let him out, can you disprove that smart guy? And how would you test the effectiveness of praying to God for results when you don’t even believe in him? He would see that you’re trying to scam your way into some freebies without accepting his truth faithfully. It’s like when people are suddenly friendly to you and you just sit their knowing they will soon be requesting a favour.
Plus just based on the number of religions out there, you would need to truly believe in the god of each in order to experiment with the prayer thing, just to make sure it was a fair and unbiased test.
Well if God told the UAE to release him they should release the minutes of the meeting
Maybe he requested it was to be strictly confidential.
Bah, it’s only a request, not an instruction – go ahead and release the minutes I say.
What’s up with Nepal??? Why the so deeply impoverished dude? Thanks.
Oh, when you gonna deliver my bday wish? Been 4 months already, don’t make me join Darwin boys…
You need to get a new type of friend. You know what they say, if a friend borrows 20 bucks and you never see him again, it was money well spent.
Trust me, only time will reveal to you how many of your current friends you wish you could’ve dispensed with earlier with only a 20 bucks loss…
Or maybe the devil did so the guy could support other worthy causes.
Unlikely, as the devil doesn’t give support to amateurs, it is already a tough battle as it is against the almighty, can’t worsen you chances of success by recruiting from a group who constantly fail.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that God exists.
Then it would appear that Qataris pray very effectively to God to keep Kafala in place and God listened to their prayers and not to the prayers of the laborers, so Kafala is a good thing and God approves it and it should not be changed.
That is a possibility, but there is a possibility the labourers are praying to the “wrong” god, or maybe the right god but the language barrier prevents them from effectively communicating their message.
Lots of variables involved here, you need to confirm with God.
Apparently I will be facing the language barrier, so I will need a translator in order to confirm with God. Somehow I thought that God created all languages and naively assumed that He understood what He had created so there would be no language barrier if the Nepalese prayed in Nepali.
This is the difference between a Muslim and a atheist. It is beyond your level of conscience to understand what the son wrote. So don’t offend others feelings you scum.
You set such a fine example for people of faith and for that I salute you.
Your god must be proud of your comments.
Islam is great. But, I am yet to see a country with majority of Atheists (I am not one), that still practices modern day slavery and lack of basic human rights. I will pray to God, like I always do to open Muslim’s eyes and make them treat humans as humans…You never know, maybe God will listen to me like how “HE” listened to Mr. Mahmoud.
Note: I wrote “He”, so that you do not mistaken it by a “She”.. We all know that God can’t be a she because that would probably be a downgrade for someone like yourself.
Although I am Muslim, the difference between me and you is that I am by no means proud. I am actually ashamed… Not because I am Muslim, but because of others who dare to call themselves Muslims.
Please do not call me a Scum because I strongly believe that I am not.
If the driver is bad , don’t blame the car. I do agree the majority of Muslims are not the perfect examples that represent Islam. But at least I respect other people’s religion , faith and culture. And no one has the right to make fun of others faith. As for your comment , you look either confused or are a customer of qdc like your friend.
What driver and what car man…You say you respect other people’s religions faith and culture but you contradict yourself by criticizing people’s beliefs and cultures in that same paragraph. Customer of QDC? yes, very relevant judgement sir. I am confused? You seem to have mapped my 52 years of living from reading one paragraph and interpreting it using your own humble logic.
See, Islam’s major downfall is that it allows people like you to feel righteous. Islam is great but the VAST majority of its followers are ignorant people who lack minimal logic. Logic comes from education and life experience. When you are born rich and you are brainwashed that your money makes you a better person, it makes Islam look bad. This is why many people hate our religion.
My advice to you:
1-Limit your advice and/or judgement to others.
2-Change your name to ProudWannaBeMuslim
You want to be proud? Go and form an non-profit association that condemn enslaving people in your country. Only then, you will have a reason to be proud Muslim.
Thank you.
LMAO! Trust me when I tell you it is what mostly comes out of poorer Islamic countries that makes non-muslims fear/hate Islam. You know the type who burn “blasphemers”, marry prepubescent girls off, immigrate to developed countries but want to bring Sharia law with them, don’t even get me started on terrorism part.
I agree. But, who do you blame? the very poor who do not know any better and do not have the capability to know any better even if they desire? Or those who have a choice?
If you are to judge and shame, (Rich Saudi or some poor Islamic nation)… who would you judge and shame first? I only used Saudi because a country with this kind of wealth should have no reason to have that much ignorance float in the name of Islam. I think you get my gist, with all the respect due Saleem.
Deleting for personal attack and subsequent thread of irrelevance to the article.
You deleted a previous comment for stereotyping which is good. Why don’t you delete MIMH’s comment for a gratuitous blasphemy act. I don’t think his comment is adding any value to the debate, except offending believers.
Your offence is not a reason and what I said is not blasphemy, I just said God had nothing to do with the pardon. Religious types do tend to over react and what any opinion to theirs shut down and the person silenced.
I really hope Disqus doesnt screw up and you are outed.
Why? Because your want to see me jailed or murdered?
Neither. Let me rephrase” I really wish Disqus doesnt screw up and out you”.
In that case thanks! I am Scarlet Al Pipernell
Deleting for personal attack.
I apologize for attacking Disqus personally.
you should better read and understand English before shouting to blasphemy, chill out!
Blasphemy (which the comment clearly wasn’t) is a matter of opinion and doesn’t clearly fall under the terms of service. Believers? What is that code for? Pastafarians? Lutherans? Scientologists? Wesleyans? Sikhs?
Alhamdulilla.
If only some of this countries could be just as generous and release other victims who are in prison for a lot lesser offences then this one and allow them to continue with their lives out here or just allow them to get to their home countries
It is hard to imagine a lesser (or similar) offence getting you a jail term in the civilized world
The US has one of the highest jail term to offence-seriousness ratios in the world, especially if you are black.