Plea to help Australian grandfather trapped in Qatar after being jailed over bounced cheques

Nine News Australia publishes the Gulf in Justice Podcast on Joe Sarlak

And while he has now been cleared and released, ongoing legal proceedings — which his lawyers say are being filed purely to keep him in the country — mean he’s banned from leaving.

Mr Sarlak said he was disappointed nothing had been done to help him, after Australia secured the release of Ms Moore-Gilbert, who was in a jail in Iran for more than two years.

Mr Sarlak, who has two grandchildren he’s never met, said the imprisonment of the academic, which he heard about while he was in jail, upset him.

“Every time I used to see her picture, my tears were running down (my face), he told 9news.com.au.

“I knew what it was like and to be a lady, much, much harder.

“I’m disappointed (at Australia).

“I know there are people here from Nepal, Bangladesh, they are helping their people a lot more.

Mr Sarlak moved to the Middle Eastern country to build aircraft hangars for the Royal family’s airline.

He had built similar structures in Australia, including at Melbourne Airport and said he won an international tender.

When that job was finished he decided to stay because he liked the “peaceful” life.

But Mr Sarlak, who previously lived in Albury, was jailed in 2016 over allegations around bounced cheques — a criminal offence in the country — related to his firm.

His lawyers say he was never given a trial and was made to sign a confession in Arabic.

He blamed his former Qatari business partner for the bounced cheques and claimed money was embezzled from the company.

After more than two years in jail, Mr Sarlak was finally cleared and released.

But more pending cases, which Mr Sarlak’s lawyers say relate to the registration of a company in his name by somebody else while he was in prison, means he cannot leave the country.

He can’t access the medical care he needs for his heart condition, and risks arrest because he doesn’t have any ID.

Last year Amnesty International Australia called for ministers to intervene in Mr Sarlak’s case.

Mr Sarlak is at least out of the horrific Doha Central prison, where his lawyers feared he might die.

He shared a cell with as many as 18 people.

“(There were) 18 people in one room, double-decker beds, mattresses torn, no clean sheets or blankets and smoking, it was horrifying, as I’ve have problems with my heart, I suffered a lot,” he said.

“The hygiene was horrible. For the sake of my children, my family, I’ve had to be strong.”

Mr Sarlak warned Australians against the lure of working in the Middle East, calling it an “utterly dangerous place”.

“The only thing worse than Qatar’s assault on an innocent grandfather is Australia’s senseless unwillingness to object.

“Getting this woman from Iran would have been a much tougher task.

“Both Qatar and Australia could easily work this out, but if they don’t I wouldn’t expect him to get out of the country anytime soon.”

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told 9news.com.au: “The Australian Government has been providing consular assistance to an Australian man in Qatar since his detention in 2016. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”

Originally published at https://www.9news.com.au on December 8, 2020.