- Dina Mustafa
- BBC News Arabic
11 May 2022
A picture of the Qatari dissident poet Muhammad bin al-Dhib
A video clip published on an account attributed to the Qatari poet Muhammad bin Al-Deeb sparked a great controversy on social media, after the account published a video clip of Ibn Theeb, in which he confirmed that a Qatari court had sentenced him to life imprisonment, along with two others, which ignited social networking sites, as tweeters launched an attack. scathing at the Qatari authorities.
Despite the spread of the life sentence marking on Muhammad bin al-Dhib in several Gulf countries, led by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, there are no official Qatari sources confirming the validity of this information so far.
What’s the story?
Qatari activists and opponents circulated a video clip of the well-known Qatari poet, Muhammad bin al-Dhib, criticizing the decision of a Qatari court against him with life imprisonment, he said.
Bin al-Dhib explained in the video that “the life imprisonment sentence that was issued against him and the lawyer Hazza bin Ali Abu Sherida al-Marri and his brother, Dr. Rashid bin Ali Abu Sherida al-Marri, came because of their criticism of the Qatari election law last year,” in a case surrounded by great secrecy in the country.
The video was met with great interaction on social media.
An account in the name of “Ahrar Al-Emarat” also published what it said was the court’s full decision, which stipulates the punishment of all defendants with life imprisonment.
picture released, twitter.com
The publication of an account in the name of “Ahrar Al-Emarat” is the full court decision, which stipulates the punishment of all defendants with life imprisonment
Criticism of the Qatari authorities
As soon as Muhammad bin al-Dhib’s video spread, tweets launched a scathing attack on the Qatari authorities, and tweets said that the video “revealed her true face.”
Others criticized what they described as “limiting freedoms”, stressing that it is “the true measure of development.”
Nawaf Al-Mamouni, a Saudi tweeter, asked about Qatar’s demand to implement freedoms?
Sultan Al-Otaibi expressed his grief over the imprisonment of the poet Muhammad bin al-Dhib.
No official confirmation
BBC contacted Dr. Ali Al-Hail, a professor of political science at Qatar University, said that there was no official confirmation from the Qatari authorities for this news.
He indicated that he had contacted the official Qatar News Agency, which in turn made it clear that it had not received this news until the issue was published.
Al-Hail confirmed that “the opposition poet bin al-Dhib publishes many incitement videos against the authorities in Qatar,” adding: “Therefore, this ruling is in his custody.”
Al-Hail continued in his speech to the BBC: “Bin al-Dhib and two others objected to the elections that took place for the first time in the history of the State of Qatar, noting that it is natural for problems and objections to occur, and since last October he has been inciting against the state even though it – according to al-Hail’s description I honored him and granted him privileges after he was released from prison in 2016 after writing an inappropriate poem in which he experienced symptoms, which is unacceptable in Qatar.
When asked about whether imprisonment is a punishment for those who criticize the election law, Al-Deeb confirmed that “the news has not yet been confirmed, and if it is confirmed, every country has its own laws. He added: “Peoples are cultures, and every country has the right to exercise its sovereignty at home and abroad.”
Al-Hail believed that “there is no single reason for a Qatari citizen to object to the political system in Qatar,” stressing that “the Qatari citizen is on the list of the most entertaining around the world.”
He explained, “Qatari citizens do not pay fees for water or electricity, and the state grants the Qatari citizen privileges that no country in the world grants, even in the most democratic countries in the world.”
He concluded by saying that “all citizens in Qatar exercise their political and social freedom while they are active on Twitter,” stressing that “there is a difference between speaking and criticizing rationally, or hurting people or inciting against the authorities,” noting that “there are penalties for instigators in all countries of the world.” “.
Al Marra protests
The roots of the case go back to the middle of last year, when a large number of members of the Al-Murra tribe in Qatar organized unprecedented protests against the new election law, which prevented them from running for the first parliamentary elections, and ended with the arrest of a number of the most prominent organizers of those protests, including lawyer Hazza Al-Marri.
The right to run and vote in the first parliamentary elections that Qatar witnessed last year was limited to indigenous Qataris, while naturalized Qataris born in Qatar and whose grandfather had obtained citizenship were allowed to vote only, and the rest of the naturalized were not allowed to run or vote.
These conditions provoked angry reactions; Because it prevents many Qataris from the Al-Murra tribe from running in the elections, while they consider themselves indigenous Qataris who contributed to the establishment of the country with the ruling Al-Thani family.
Qatari Nationality Law
- Qatari lawyers from the Al-Murra tribe say that the citizenship law issued in 1961 gave them ten years to exercise their political right, while granting their children the status of original citizenship, and they all participated in voting on the country’s constitution in the nineties of the last century, before the 2005 law abolished a general law 1961 unconstitutionally, as they describe.
- The issue of indigenous and naturalized Qataris is always raised, dividing a country with a small population and a wealth of natural gas sales and other energy resources.