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Outcry over reports women on Qatar Airways flight to Sydney were strip-searched
The Australian government says it is ‘deeply concerned’ at the ‘offensive, grossly inappropriate treatment’ of female passengers on a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney, who were ordered to disembark the plane in Doha and were subjected to a strip search and a medical examination.
The flight was due to leave Hamad International airport at Doha on Friday 2 October, but was delayed for four hours after a newborn baby was found in the airport.
All adult women on the Qatar Airways flight were required to disembark to be body-searched, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
Thirteen Australian women, and female passengers from other countries, were taken to an ambulance on the tarmac to be examined.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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