The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) of Mexico will be in charge of the legal defense of Paola Schietekat Sedas, the citizen who was the victim of sexual abuse during a work stay in Qatar and who, after denouncing the aggression, was sentenced to seven years in prison .
The head of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Marcelo Ebrard, met this Friday with Schietekat Sedas, who managed to escape from Qatar on June 25, 2021 and took refuge in his country. After the meeting, the official reported that “the SRE’s legal consultant, our best lawyer, will be in charge of defending her and ensuring that all her rights as a Mexican citizen are respected.”
“I recognized his courage and resolution“, express Ebrard on his Twitter account.
I thanked Paola for her visit and the conversation. The Legal Consultant of the SRE, our best lawyer, will be in charge of defending her and ensuring that all her rights as a Mexican citizen are respected. I recognized her courage and resolution. pic.twitter.com/PMWGjpjHRV
– Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) February 18, 2022
Schietekat Sedas worked as a behavioral economist at the Qatar 2022 World Cup Organizing Committee. On the night of June 6, 2021, an acquaintance of yours broke into your apartment and abused her. The next day, Paola went to report to the Police in the company of the Mexican consul in Qatar.
They asked him if he wanted to continue with the case until the last consequences, and on the advice of the Mexican consul, Schietekat Sedas decided yes. At night, the authorities summoned her again.
“I became the defendant”
“It was three hours of interrogation in Arabic and, at a certain point, they demanded a virginity test. For some reason I had become the accused. When she asked why they demanded that I give them my cell phone, they assured me that there were no charges against me, that they just wanted to verify that there was no romantic relationship between us, well the aggressor defended himself from the complaint saying that I was his girlfriend“, counted Schietekat Silks in an article.
From that moment on, the woman went from being the victim of abuse to being the offender of the law, since in Qatar extramarital relations are a crime which is punishable by up to seven years in prison and 100 lashes. Immediately, Schietekat Sedas managed to leave the city of Doha with the help of the Organizing Committee of the World Cup and took refuge in Mexico.
Once in her country, the woman was notified that the Justice of Qatar had acquitted her aggressor, while her sentence for the crime of extramarital relationship remained firm.
From her native nation, Schietekat Sedas reflected on her case and on “the lack of a protection protocol for victims of violence with a gender perspective in the Mexican Foreign Service.” “The consul advised going to the last resort without knowledge of Qatari law and without even recommending seeking legal advice first,” she recalled.
Faced with media pressure, the Mexican Foreign Ministry offered him legal advice eight months after being a victim of abuse and accused of an extramarital affair.
