Our Game for Human Rights: Speaker's tour with Malcolm Bidali

Malcolm Bidali, a 30-year-old Kenyan citizen, has worked as a security guard in Qatar for four and a half years. With the support of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, we were able to invite the activist to Vienna to complete a speaker's tour of Austria from October 3 to 6, 2022. 

When he anonymously reported on Twitter about human rights violations against migrant workers, he became a victim of a phishing attack, which led to his arrest on May 4, 2021. On May 12, Qatari authorities confirmed that Bidali was in custody but refused to disclose his whereabouts. Authorities did not charge him for a long time and denied him access to legal counsel. Under international law, solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days is considered a form of torture. Malcolm Bidali was held incommunicado for more than three weeks.

It was not until July 14, 2021, that the Qatar Supreme Judicial Council issued a criminal order stating that Malcolm Bidali had disseminated and published "false news with the intention of endangering the state's public system." The charge was a direct violation of the right to freedom of expression. After paying a fine of 5,800 euros, Malcolm Bidali was released and allowed to leave the country.

In the course of the Speaker's Tour, Malcolm Bidali took part in several meetings with representatives of sports and politics (e.g. at the House of Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Furthermore, a number of press meetings with different media (e.g. with Der Standard) took place.

Malcolm Bidali provided insights into the situation on site and described his personal experiences. He pointed out several times that the current attention on Qatar must not be extinguished after the final whistle on December 18, 2022, and that civil society organizations must continue to focus on the observance of human rights on the ground and exert pressure. He himself has made it his mission to improve the situation of migrant workers and has set up a foundation with a former migrant worker. MigrantDefenders.org is currently under construction and we are already planning further steps together: https://migrantdefenders.org/