Nepali Times

I used to teach high school students at the Qatar Academy in Doha. Because of my long hair and Mongolian features students often taunted me, calling me ‘Chink’ or ‘Jackie Chan’.

They repeatedly ignored my requests to stop the teasing. So I started ignoring their snide remarks. On 16 April, three students from Grade 7 started calling me names again. “I am not Chinese so stop calling me that,” I told them, but they didn’t stop. I asked them how they would feel if I called them ‘terrorists’. They misinterpreted the statement and complained to their parents. One of them filed a complaint against me in the school saying, “Dorje accused my son and his friends of being terrorists.” The school administration then asked me to leave on 21 April.

My contract was about to end in June, anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal for me to return to Nepal a month earlier than planned and had booked my ticket for 3 May. I was determined to go back and start a charity to help schools in rural Nepal.

On 1 May the local police arrested me and took me to a Doha jail. One of the parents had filed a case against me. The next day I was interrogated by public prosecutors. I told them that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but was jailed for an entire week. Finally on 9 May, they took me to court for a hearing. After the preliminary hearing I was to appear for another hearing in two weeks. If found guilty I’d have to stay in jail for five years and I thought I would die in jail.

On 12 May, I told my friends to come to visit me with few books and clothes as they allowed visitors only on Sundays. But to my surprise one of the wardens informed me that I was being released. “Good news for you, you’re out,” he said. I was amazed, shocked, and happy at the same time. When I asked a Nepali inmate about the details, he congratulated me on my release. When I came out of the jail, I met my friends who had come to visit me. I learnt that the students’ parents had withdrawn their case.

It was only after I reached Kathmandu on Monday that I learnt how I was released. My father had immediately reported the case at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu asking for my release. The ministry then contacted the embassy in Qatar. I also found how my friends from St Xavier’s scattered around the world came together and created a Facebook campaign ‘Release Innocent Dorje’ to demand my immediate release.

Had it not been for the immense support from tens of thousands of friends around the globe which created a pressure on the Qatar government, it would have been a long wait for me in Doha. I would like to thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. The success in my case has given hope for many other innocent Nepalis who are incarcerated under false accusations. I met 20 or so Nepalis in jail in Doha. There are another 300 who have been wrongly accused like me.

I have lived abroad for too long and for the first time since I went to Doha I could speak Nepali. Now I want to stay back and work for my country. Since I am a teacher I will start by improving the government school near my village of Tembe in Mustang and contribute to the education of Nepalis.

(As told to Manoj Dahal.)

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