Photo : AAP
Sydney, Australia – In a major legal development, five Australian women who say they were forcibly removed from a Qatar Airways flight and strip-searched by armed guards in 2020 have now been given permission to take their case to court. This comes after a top court in Australia overturned an earlier decision that had blocked their lawsuit.
The incident happened in October 2020 at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. The women were on a Sydney-bound Qatar Airways flight when all passengers were ordered off the plane. The reason? Airport staff had found a newborn baby abandoned in a bathroom at the airport. In response, officials began checking women on several flights, including 10 different Qatar Airways flights, to see if they had recently given birth.
Among the affected passengers were 13 Australian women, including the five who are now taking legal action.
The five women say they were escorted off the plane by armed Qatari officers, taken to ambulances parked on the runway, and forced to remove their underwear for invasive medical exams without their consent. These exams were done by a nurse and, according to the women, were extremely traumatic and humiliating.
The women said they were not told what was going on and were given no chance to refuse the search. Some were in shock, others cried. All of them later said they felt violated, afraid, and powerless.
In 2022, the women began legal action against:
They are claiming damages under the Montreal Convention, a global agreement that outlines what airlines are responsible for when passengers are harmed during a flight. They are also suing for assault, negligence, and false imprisonment. The women say the incident has caused long-term damage to their mental health, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In 2023, a judge in Australia’s Federal Court, Justice John Halley, ruled against the women. He said their case had no chance of success and that Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority was protected as a foreign state and could not be sued under Australian law.
This meant the women’s case was almost over—until now.
On Thursday, a group of three judges from the Full Federal Court reviewed the earlier decision and overturned it. They said the case was too complex to be thrown out at this early stage. According to the court, the Montreal Convention’s rules are not clear in this situation, and a full court hearing is needed to decide what the law really says.
In simple words, the judges said:
“This case is too complicated to be dismissed quickly. It needs to go to trial.”
Now, the women are allowed to move forward with their lawsuit against Qatar Airways and MATAR. The two companies have also been ordered to pay the women’s legal costs for the appeal.
Damian Sturzaker, the lawyer representing the women, said:
“Our clients endured a traumatic experience on that night in Doha, and they deserve to have their day in court and compensation for their suffering.”
He also said that the legal team will keep supporting the women as the case moves forward in Australia’s Federal Court.
This case is important for several reasons:
The story made worldwide headlines, and many people are still shocked that such a thing could happen in a modern international airport.
Now that the case is moving forward, it will go to a full court trial. The court will hear all the details, review evidence, and decide whether Qatar Airways and MATAR broke any laws and if the women should be paid compensation.
This legal journey may still take many months, or even years, but the women’s voices are finally being heard. They are asking for justice, and now, they have a real chance to get it.
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