Australian minister says invasive examinations have been a part of purpose Qatar Airways was refused flights

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Transport Minister Catherine King stated on Thursday that invasive gynecological examinations carried out on passengers at Doha’s worldwide airport in 2020 have been a part of the rationale she refused to permit Qatar Airways to double its companies to Australia.

King has confronted intense questioning over why she selected June 10 to not permit the airline to double its present 28 flights per week to Australia.

She stated the choice was made within the “context” of girls being examined in 2020 by authorities at Hamad International Airport in Doha who have been looking for the mom of a new child child discovered dumped in a trash can.

Women on quite a few flights leaving Doha have been invasively examined, together with 13 on a flight to Sydney.

“There is no one factor that I would point to that swayed my decision one way or the other,” King instructed reporters.

“Certainly, for context, this is the only airline that has had something like that where that has happened,” she stated.

“I was not not aware of it, so obviously it was in the context of the decision that I made. But there was no one factor that influenced this decision.” she added.

Qatar Airways and the Qatari authorities didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.