Airport officers face jail after ordering women to strip

AIRPORT police officers in Qatar are facing up to three years in prison for their involvement in forced examinations of female passengers, including two Britons, after a newborn baby was found in a bin in Doha airport.

Qatari prosecutors said that an unspecified number of airport security had been charged under violation laws.

The incident came to light when 13 Australians on 10 different flights that day contacted the authorities upon their return home. Five others, including two Britons, also came forward to say they were made to disembark their flights at Doha’s Hamad International Airport on the same day.

Women were reportedly ordered to remove their underwear so they could be checked for signs of birth. Qatari prosecutors said the baby’s mother had been i dentified and charged with attempted murder, although she had left the country. Qatar has started legal proceedings to arrest her.

They said: “The infant’s mother threw the newborn in the trash can in one of the lavatories at the airport and boarded the plane to her destination.”

Airport staff were unaware their actions were unlawful at the time, the prosecutors added. Qatar’s prime minister has since apologised on Twitter.

DNA testing confirmed the identity of the mother and father.

The mother faces 15 years in prison in the conservative Muslim country where sex and childbirth outside of marriage are punishable by jail. The infant is in the care of Qatar’s authorities.