The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, reported that the agency’s legal consultant will take charge of defending Paola Schietekat, who was the victim of sexual abuse in July 2021 when she was in Qatar, and who was later sentenced to 100 lashes. and 7 years in prison.
The foreign minister reported that the agency’s legal consultant will seek to ensure that Schietekat’s rights as a Mexican citizen are respected.
“I recognized his courage and resolution,” said Ebrard, who met with the woman.
A few days ago, Paola Schietekat denounced that she was a victim of sexual abuse in Qatar, when she was working as a behavioral economist at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the entity responsible for organizing the 2022 World Cup. This happened in June of last year, when a person she considered her friend entered her room and abused her.
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The next day, accompanied by the Mexican ambassador to Qatar, Graciela Gómez, and the then consul Luis Alberto Ancona, she went to file a complaint with the police. With her limited Arabic, she explained what happened, to which the authorities proposed not to proceed, to obtain a restraining order or to go to the last consequences.
The consul recommended the latter proposal to him, but he did not know what that implied. In the evening of that day, she was urgently called to the police station again. She there she met her aggressor, who commented that there was a relationship. This caused her to go from being a victim to being accused, since Arab law considers an extramarital relationship – having sexual relations without being married – a crime, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison and 100 lashes.
The Supreme Committee helped her leave Qatar and return to Mexico, her assailant was acquitted of all charges because “despite the medical report, there were no cameras pointing directly at the door of the apartment, so there was no way to verify that the aggression it happened”, said Paola Schietekat.