Australian Federal Court Justice John Halley dismissed the case against Qatar Airways, citing that the searches were conducted off the aircraft and not involving airline staff, thus not falling under the Montreal Convention.
Five Australian women who, along with other women, were subjected to traumatic intimate searches at Doha airport in 2020 have lost their lawsuit against Qatar Airways in an Australian court.
The purpose of the searches was to determine whether the women had recently given birth. A newborn was found in a trash can at the airport. The incident, which caused international outrage and condemnation from several countries.
In 2021, five Australian women applied to an Australian court for damages for "unlawful physical contact and wrongful detention" that had negative effects on their mental health. Some women reported that they suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of forced gynecological or other intimate physical examinations.
The women had hoped to use international aviation conventions to sue Qatar Airways for damages for "unlawful physical contact", and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) and airport operations company MATAR for assault and false imprisonment.
This incident raised concerns about Qatar’s treatment of women, particularly as the Gulf state was gearing up to host the 2022 football World Cup. In response, Australia’s government restricted Qatar Airways from expanding its flight operations into the country.
However, an Australian court said on Wednesday that under the Montreal Convention, which governs carrier liability for the death and injury of passengers, Qatar's state-owned airline was not responsible for the incident. Justice Halley said,
"The security operation was directed by officers of the MOI [Qatari Ministry of the Interior], and the nurse was not an employee of either Qatar Airways or MATAR,"
"Further, no material facts have been alleged that would establish that either the nurse or any officer of the MOI was subject to any control of Qatar Airways or MATAR."
"The proposition that Qatar Airways was able to exert any relevant control over the officers of the MOI conducting the police operation or the nurse in the ambulance can fairly be characterised as fanciful, trifling, implausible, improbable, tenuous or one that is contradicted by all the available documents or other materials."
The court concluded that the airline employees could not influence the interventions of the Qatari police, who let the women off the plane, nor the actions of the nurses who examined the women in the ambulances on the airport taxiway.
Judge John Halley also dismissed the women's claim against Qatar's civil aviation authority, but said the Australians could pursue their claim against Qatar Airway's subsidiary, Matar, which has a contract to operate Doha's Hamad International Airport.
The women have previously told the BBC that they did not consent to the examination and were not given an explanation as to why they were being examined. "I felt like I was raped," said Mandy from Britain. Another woman testified that she believed she had been kidnapped and was being held hostage.
Qatari Prime Minister Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Sani expressed regret after the incident and called the treatment of passengers unacceptable. "What happened is completely against Qatari culture and values," he said in a statement. Qatar also launched an investigation into the case, which resulted in a suspended prison sentence for one of the airport officials.
In 2021, reported to have learned that one the security official responsible for ordering the invasive searches was charged a hefty fine and given a six-month prison sentence which he then appealed, but was upheld by the Qatari courts.
Late last year, Australian Transport Minister Catherine King said the strip searches were "context" in her decision to reject a bid by Qatar Airlines to increase the number of flights it was allowed to operate into Australia.
