Authorities in Qatar have identified a woman believed to be the mother of a newborn baby who was abandoned and thrown into a bin at Hamad International Airport on Oct. 2.
Authorities identified the woman as a foreign national from an "Asian country."
“The mother, while leaving the country, threw the newborn infant in the trash can in one of the toilets in the Departures Lounge at the Airport and boarded the plane to her destination,” the statement by prosecutors said.
The father of the infant, who was abroad when the incident happened, told authorities that the woman did indeed throw the infant into the bin and informed him of her actions via letter, which authorities now have a copy of.
Efforts to extradite the woman back to the Muslim nation are underway, according to prosecutors. The "fugitive" could face “a maximum penalty of 15 years," prosecutors said.
It's not clear what charges the father could face, if any, for his role in the case.
In the process of finding the child's mother, police at Hamad International Airport examined female passenger's pelvic's.
In particular, female passengers from 10 flights departing from Doha were forced to take part in the examination. Some of the passengers included British, New Zealand, and Australian citizens. The foreign nationals complained to their government of what they described were " offensive, grossly disturbing, and completely unacceptable" searches.
Australia's foreign ministry had to step into the matter, forcing Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani's apology, last month, which read, "We regret the unacceptable treatment of the female passengers.”
Qatar's public prosecutor said an investigation into the complaints found that airport staff broke the law by conducting the evasive searches, and in turn, an unidentified number of them have been charged and could face a maximum of three years in prison.
By: Niza Nondo
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