Qatar's death row and the invisible migrant workforce deemed unworthy of due process 19/01/2023, 10:36 Nepalis are aware of the high death rate, as one man who frequently travels to Qatar described to us: “Every time you land in Nepal, a few coffins are taken off the plane first.” Indeed, Nepali politicians have reported that three to four Nepalis arrive home in coffins from the Gulf every day. Villagers stand around a coffin in the woods. Family members in Ghodghans, Nepal, in March 2022 mourning Kripal Mandal, a labourer who died at the age of 39 in Qatar. Shutterstock/Sebastian Castelier But less is known about the death penalty in this jurisdiction, and how capital punishment intersects with the issue of migrant worker abuse. Chaudhary and blood money The case of Chaudhary is one such example. We know he travelled to Qatar in 2015 to work as a labourer in a car washing firm. He was from the village of Aurahi in the Mahottari district of Nepal, a region with the second-largest source of migrant labour in the country, characterised by some as a place “where the streets have no men”, a consequence of many unskilled migrants travelling to Gulf states. He was the only son of Gita and Shyam. The family took out a loan of 150,000 NRS (about £982) to secure him a job overseas, in the hope that his wages would support them as they struggled to make a living in Nepal. Now they are left destitute, as are many whose family members never return from the Gulf. Chaudhary’s case highlights another way in which foreign nationals are disadvantaged in the death penalty system – this relates to the Islamic practice of diyya or “blood money”. Under sharia law there are three categories of crime, qesas, hudud and ta’azir. The first category, qesas, covers crimes such as homicide and infliction of injury, and under sharia law there are options for restitution and forgiveness, including “blood money” whereby the accused pays financial compensation to the victim’s family as an alternative to retribution through execution. But, Chaudhary was unable to benefit from this practice, as his victim’s family refused to accept compensation. It is thought that migrant workers are much less likely to benefit from blood money as they are unlikely to be able to afford the payment. Reluctant embassies Our research suggests that, even when notified, some embassies may not be forthcoming in assisting their nationals who are facing criminal charges. Our partners tell us that embassies may be reluctant to assist or devote funds to supporting those people because, as Pramod Acharya, an investigative journalist from Nepal, explained to us, they “don’t want to give the impression that they are protecting criminals”. https://theconversation.com/qatars-death-row-and-the-invisible-migrant-workforce-deemed-unworthy-of-due-process-191017 Page 4 of 12