We have another Middle Eastern royal on the lam. Various sites are reporting that a Prague court has issued an international arrest warrant for Prince Hamad bin Abdallah bin Thani al-Thani, a Qatari prince convicted of sexually abusing Czech girls.
The case is rather twisted both factually and procedurally. Al Thani is accused of having being a child molester who paid money for sex with Czech girls until he was finally arrested. He was convicted in May 2005 of sexually abusing underaged girls and sentenced to 30 months in prison. There appears to have been a separate case (though the articles I have found are a bit unclear). Days after the filing of charges, “then justice minister Pavel Němec ordered his release on a promise that he would be prosecuted in Qatar.” Not surprisingly, two years later the prosecutors in Qatar simply dropped the charges.
Czech officials were under considerable pressure to respond to the bait and switch. They have now reportedly done so with an international warrant.
The question now will be the willingness of Qatar to send the prince back to face justice.
Jonathan Turley
Thanks LK!
Rafflaw. Insightful as always.
Unfortunately,
The Czech minister who let him go made the biggest mistake of his life. I would check his bank accounts because it smells fishy. Qatar will turn over the Prince the day the United States prosecutes Bush and Cheney and any other accomplises for torture.
“The question now will be the willingness of Qatar to send the prince back to face justice.”
What is “not willing or cooperative in the slightest”?
I’ll take “Unjust Royalty Treatments” for $500, Alex.
Can he be sentenced to the same crime he is charged with….Big Bubba….