Qatar’s ambassador to Belgium, Sheikh Al Thani, and his wife walk free despite 19 negligent deaths
Qatar’s Court of Appeal today has quashed the conviction of five individuals, [two of them members of the country’s Al Thani ruling family,] who were convicted of negligence in the deadly May 2012 Villaggio Mall fire, but found the company that owns the shopping center guilty of involuntary manslaughter, according to a report.
The blaze killed 19 people, including 13 children, inside the Gympanzee daycare, located on the upper floor of the mall.
“Some family members of the victims who attended court today stormed out while the presiding judge Abdalrahman al-Sharafi took an unprecedented five hours to read out his verdict,” the report said.
He cleared each defendant of numerous charges, but appeared to be blaming the deceased staff of Gympanzee for the disaster, suggesting that a partially blocked emergency exit should not have prevented their escape.
“In the case of a fire, people don’t move slowly. If there is a hurdle in front of you, you (pick up) a child and jump and get out,” the judge was quoted as saying.
Lillie, Jackson and Wilshire Weekes were tragically killed in May 2012 at Gympanzee daycare centre in Doha. Qatar’s ambassador to Belgium, Sheikh Ali Bin Jassim Bin Al Thani, a member of the country’s ruling Al Thani family, and his wife, owners of the Gympanzee centre, as well as three others, who had initially received a six-year sentence for causing death by negligence, were cleared of all charges.
Martin and Jane Weekes, The parents of 2-year-old Kiwi triplets who were tragically killed in the fire, said, “the pain they are feeling is ‘indescribable’ after learning the convictions of five people responsible for the blaze have been thrown out.”
“The pain for all of the families is indescribable. Today we remember the 19 innocent lives lost, including 13 beautiful children. We are grieving for our beautiful children. And we are angry.
“Not one person has taken responsibility for this crime. The charge has been reduced to corporate manslaughter. This is a travesty of justice,” Mr Weekes said.
[It’s incredible how anyone could open a daycare center on the top floor of a shopping mall!]
Filipino expat Louie Aban, whose 29-year-old wife Maribel Orosco, an accountant, was killed in the fire spoke to Doha News outside the court:
“Why is the court blaming the dead? This just proves to us that Qatar is for Qataris only.”
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