Former Qatar 2022 employee facing fresh legal action over loan payments

A former employee of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee, jailed on contested corruption charges, faces fresh legal action after his former bosses withheld his severance pay meaning he will default on a loan, his family say.

Abdullah Ibhais, a former media manager, was last year given a three-year sentence for misappropriating state funds — a charge that he insists was concocted as punishment for him criticising the handling of a migrant workers’ strike.

A Qatari judge claimed Ibhais received a bribe when offering a tender for a social media contract. However, no evidence was submitted to the court that found him guilty. The evidence supporting his conviction was a confession made by Ibhais, which he has since retracted.

Around 90% of Qatar’s population of 2.6 million is made up of foreigners, many of them labourers who have toiled for more than five years, often in blistering heat, to finish the stadiums and supporting infrastructure in time for the World Cup that starts on 21 November.