Violent acts of Qatar Emir’s brother covered up by Qatari authorities, lawsuit says

Authorities in Qatar helped cover up the violent acts of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, the brother of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim, according to an explosive US lawsuit seen by Al Arabiya English.

Six plaintiffs seeking damages from Sheikh Khalid filed the 137-page federal lawsuit on Tuesday. The lawsuit levels a number accusations against Sheikh Khalid, including that he beat his wife’s driver to death, ordered staff to spy on members of royal families across the Arabian Gulf, and repeatedly threatened and imprisoned employees.

Ramez Tohme, a plaintiff in the suit, at one point escaped Sheikh Khalid’s palace where he had been working with the assistance of Matthew Pittard, another plaintiff and former US marine.

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Fearing for their lives, Tohme and Pittard continually moved around Doha, hiding different hotels and residents. Reluctantly Tohme would agree to meet with Sheikh Khalid so that he would be able to gain proper authorization to leave the country.

Sheikh Khalid told Tohme he “just wanted to talk,” the lawsuit says.

When arriving at the meeting spot, Sheikh Khalid’s Qatari employees kidnapped Tohme and forced him back to the palace where he was verbally and physically threatened.

The suit alleges that at this time Sheikh Khalid was high on drugs and brandishing a firearm.

Once more, Pittard tried to assist in Tohme’s escape, with the help of the US embassy, who instructed him to contact Qatari police.

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“I will bury you in the desert”

The police after arriving at Sheikh Khalid’s palace instead arrested Tohme at the direction of Sheikh Khalid, who took Tohme’s phone, and learnt of Pittard’s involvement.

“You motherf*cker! You back-stabbing piece of sh*t! How dare you do this to me? You know who I am and what I can do to you? I will bury you in the desert! F*ck your family, and I will f*ck you!” Sheikh Khalid said to Pittard, the lawsuit says.

Tohme was held overnight at the police station where a blood sample was forcibly taken from him by an untrained staff member. The sample was later tampered with at the direction of Sheikh Khalid, the lawsuit continues, to show alcohol in Tohme’s blood system.

However, the tampering had been done incompetently, meaning that the reading showed so much alcohol in Tohme that he would have to be clinically dead.

Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani. (File photo)

Following his night in the Qatari jail, Tohme was brought before a judge.

“Ramez, don’t worry. We are all aware of Sheikh Khalid’s actions and the things he does. I will release you but I don’t want to hear anything bad about my country,” the judge said to Tohme in his chambers, according to the lawsuit.

Throughout Tohme’s release, Sheikh Khalid once again returned to encourage the police to arrest Tohme for a second time.

With the assistance of the US Qatari Consulate in Los Angeles, California, Ambassador Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Qatari military attache to the UN, Tohme was finally released eight hours after his second arrest and personally escorted by Qatari government out of the country via an undisclosed location with Pittard.

Pittard was also told by Qatari law enforcement that he would detained if he decided to make a report on his treatment at the hands of Sheikh Khalid.

The data stolen from Pittard by Sheikh Khalid would later be used to further Sheikh Khalid’s business, while Pittard was left unable to conduct business in Qatar, previously a lucrative spot, and Turkey, an allay of Qatar, the lawsuit said.

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