Qatar is a country with a very low crime rate, you will be told when you come to Qatar. Which is true: when two cars were stole a year or so back the country was in apoplexy, and when some handbags were stolen you would have thought you were in a major crime wave by the reaction the newspapers gave. (To be fair to them, they don't often get the chance to write about something interesting that happens in Qatar!)

On the other hand, many things that are not considered a crime in Qatar are considered a crime in the West, for this is a strict Wahabbi country - although nothing like as strict as Saudi Arabia. Drinking alcohol - unless you are a permit holder or in a licensed club/hotel bar - is a crime. And having sex (or at least being caught having sex) is a very serious crime which can result in imprisonment.

People being people, of course, sex happens all the time, and "purer" people can then get their thrill reading about it in the local newspaper...

One frequent crime that seems to be reported in the local newspapers is that of maids sleeping with drivers, gardeners and other servants or "lower class" types.

The couple are invariably found by the returning employer, normally intertwined in the maid's room. The police are then called and the offending couple are faced with prison time, loss of employment, deportation and, if they are Muslim, a lashing.

A recent example of this saw a Palestinian women returning to find her maid in a compromising position with a young man in his early 20's. Although the man hastily donned his trousers and fled, the women gave chase - see the full story below...

A FURIOUS Arab woman chased a Nepali man she allegedly caught in a compromising position with her housemaid – then tied him up and waited for the police to arrest him.

A Doha court was told that the drama unfolded in January this year when the woman returned home at lunchtime to find her Filipina maid in a state of undress with the man.

When she shouted at the pair, the 22-year-old defendant hastily put on his trousers and fled through the back door of the house in Markhiya. However, he had not counted on the home owner’s determination.

Seeing the man flee, the 38-year-old Palestinian jumped in her car and gave chase.

In prosecution papers read to the court, the woman explained: “I followed him using my car until I caught him. I put him in the boot of the car. I then took him to the house and tied him up before I called the police.

Both the Filipina, 28, and the Nepali man are charged with having illicit relations.

The male defendant faces a similar second charge of entering a house without the owner’s permission.

The defendants deny they were sexually involved, and both insist the man came to the house to collect a mobile phone belonging to another Nepali currently serving time in prison.

The couple, who are both in jail, will be sentenced later this week.

Source: Gulf Times

Alcohol and drinking Qatar are allowed - albeit with srict pre-conditions. Those who wish to drink must first obtain an alcohol permit, (Muslims, but not Qataris, are allowed to do this). Alcohol may then be purchased at one of the two shops in the country. Alcohol must then be concealed on the way home, and may only be drunk in the home. Alcohol can also be drunk at some top hotels and in private clubs.

However, for an ordinary person being drunk (and being caught being drunk) can have serious consequence. One person who has stuck in my mind is a poor Egyptian chap who had some beers on the plane to Qatar. He claimed that he had a tooth ache. After arriving in Qatar and checking in to his hotel, he ordered a taxi and asked the taxi to take him to a dentist. Instead the taxi took him to the police station. In court he was sentenced to a lashing and deportation. Sadly, bursting into tears didn't help the poor man.

If you happen to be going to Qatar, Buying Alcohol in Qatar may be a useful link for you.

A slightly more serious post here, so no pics to accompany it!

Domestic servants are often in a vulnerable position in Qatar, and while there are many who are treated well others are treated appallingly. When I have visited embassies of third world countries I have seen pictures of the burn marks and scalds that domestic servants have suffered.

One particlarly shocking case was reported in the Gulf Times recently - pay attention to the sentence...

A DOHA appeals court has upheld a three-year jail term for a Qatari woman for "beating her maid to death." The court also upheld the payment of QR150,000 as blood money to the victim's family, sources said.

It found that "the penalty imposed by the first instance court was in proportion with the convict's act”.

The appeals court also found "coherence" in the statements of the witnesses who appeared before the lower court, the sources said.

The 24-year-old Sri Lankan maid had come to Qatar two months before she was killed. She was admitted to hospital on October 26, 2005, with severe injuries and died three days later.

Sources said the 26-year-old convict is still free as she is a "new mother," and is unlikely to be imprisoned before the Supreme Court of Justice rules in the case.