Letter: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani obituary

From the publisher

The reign of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani as emir of Qatar, from 1995 to 2013, was controversial. Although around 88% of Qatar’s residents were and remain foreign workers, laws intended to protect them were rarely enforced. Passport confiscation for the large numbers of migrant workers was commonplace, as were human trafficking and overcrowded and unsanitary labour camps. The emir arbitrarily made more than 5,000 Qataris of the Ghufran clan stateless, depriving them of state jobs, education and healthcare. Some of them stated that this was collective punishment, because some members were involved in a failed coup attempt in 1996. Injustices have continued as a result. In 2012, a…

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