Two Nepali filmmakers, Krishna Upadhyay and Guna Dev Ghimire, have been reported missing from a hotel in Qatar since three days, according to their employers, the Norwegian organisation
Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD).
Upadhyay and Ghimire, who hold British passports, were making a documentary about Nepali workers in the construction of Qatar’s World Cup stadia. According to the The Independent, GNRD suspects plainclothes policemen of apprehending them.
As they checked out from the Doha Grand Hyatt Hotel to return to Norway on Sunday, Upadhyay and Ghimire saw unusually many police personnel gathered at the lobby. Immediately, they sent messages to their relatives and friends.
Earlier, the two had planned to take interviews at camps for labourers but felt this was dangerous and chose instead to interview workers inside the Nepali Embassy in Doha. Nepali Embassy officials had to intervene earlier after Qatari security forces followed the filmmakers when they were travelling with Nepali diplomats.
GNRD has tried, without success, to get a response from the Qatar government. Qatar’s embassy in London is also silent. A press statement released by GNRD says it will take legal action against Qatar if their employees are tortured.
Upadhyay, who holds a PhD from a British university, once led the NRN Association in Britain, had only recently gone to Norway. There he met Ghimire, 36, who worked as a cameraperson for a Nepali diaspora tv channel.
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