Brit found hanged in Doha hotel ‘tortured by Qatar police’
Qatar authorities recorded Marc Bennett’s death as suicide but British coroner found no evidence of suicidal intent
An investigation into the death of a British travel industry boss in Qatar has reportedly uncovered fresh evidence that he was detained and tortured by the country’s secret police in the final weeks of his life.
Marc Bennett was found hanged in a Doha hotel on Christmas Eve 2019, ten weeks after being arrested “and taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a state security detention centre”, The Times reported. The UN has also reported “credible allegations” of ill-treatment at the unit.
The newspaper’s probe found he had “described how he was stripped naked, blasted with high-pressure hoses, slammed against walls and subjected to sleep deprivation techniques while held for three weeks”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bennett’s family said that following his release, he was prevented from leaving Qatar and left in “legal limbo”. After travelling to Qatar to repatriate his body, the family found evidence of “only a cursory investigation” into the 52-year-old’s death by the authorities, said The Telegraph.
The death was ruled a suicide, but a British coroner found “no specific evidence of suicidal intent”. Bennett did not leave a suicide note and was said to have been “laughing and joking” during a video call with his wife and children at their Sussex home on the evening before he died.
Former police office Colin Whelan, a friend of Bennett, told regional paper The Argus that “I’ve never witnessed such a coordinated attempt to prevent us getting answers”.
Bennett was senior vice-president of Discover Qatar, a subsidiary of the state-owned Qatar Airways, after being headhunted to boost tourism for the 2022 World Cup. But prior to his arrest, he had resigned, which an ex-colleague claimed was regarded as a “massive insult”.
Civil defence officers claimed Bennett had appropriated documents from Qatar Airways.
The Foreign Office closed the case last September, a week after Liz Truss became foreign secretary. The following month, Truss visited Qatar to create “deeper co-operation on security, development, trade and investment”.
Bennett’s family have asked a UN mission investigating abuses in Qatar to launch “an inquiry into his arrest, incarceration and death”, The Times reported.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says
Speed Read DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published