DOHA: A senior government official has said that the problems a BBC reporter and his crew experienced here could have been avoided if they had chosen to join other journalists on a press tour.
The head of the Government Communications Office, Sheikh Saif Al Thani, reacting to international media reports yesterday about the arrest of BBC reporter Mark Lobel and his crew members earlier this month in Qatar, accused Lobel of breaking Qatari laws and making “himself the story”.
Lobel, who is based in Dubai, was one of roughly a dozen international reporters and photographers who were invited by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to visit some worker accommodation sites in Qatar earlier this month.
Lobel and his crew members were arrested because they were taking photographs of places without permission.
Al Sharq reported that Lobel and his colleagues were taken into custody because they had violated Qatari laws, and for trespassing on private property.
The daily quoted human rights sources as saying that any foreign journalist or human rights organisation or international rapporteur was welcome in Qatar.
According to the daily, when German broadcast journalist Florian Bauer was arrested by Qatari police late last March, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the supervisory panel for holding FIFA 2022 World Cup, had said that he didn’t have the necessary permission to take photographs.
“All journalists entering Qatar should know this rule and must not violate Qatari law,” the daily said. They must all have the necessary permission before they take photographs of places in Qatar.
The daily quoted an earlier statement of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, H E Dr Abdullah bin Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi, that Qatar’s doors were open and it had nothing to hide.
THE PENINSULA
