Legal consultation Thursday, 22 July 2010 02:18

by  Abdelaal A Khalil

Question
What is the punishment in the Qatari Penal Code for gambling?

Answer
A game where players lose or earn things, depending on luck are is considered a gamble.
Losing gamblers have to pay money or other benefits to winners. According to the law, gamblers are sentenced to upto three months in jail and fined upto QR3,000, or face any of the two penalties.
Gambling in public or in other places attracts an imprisonment of up to a year and a fine of up to QR6,000. Preparing, establishing, or managing a place of gambling attracts an imprisonment of up to a year and a fine of up to QR5,000, or any of the two penalties.
In all cases, gambling tools have to be confiscated and the site closed down.
This site cannot be reopened without permission of the Public Prosecutor in the light of Penal Code No 11/2004.

Question
My husband used to work in Qatar, but decided to resign some time ago to go back to his own country. Both his sponsorship and his residence were abolished. When can he come back to Qatar, according to the Sponsorship Law?

Answer
According to Law No. 4/2009, which regulates the entry, exit, residence, and sponsorship of foreigners, foreigners working in Qatar, leaving their work, and departing can return to the country only two years after their departure.
The Minister of Interior can waive this condition for some people, provided that the former’s sponsor approves it. But this is not the case with foreigners who return to Qatar to work with the same sponsor.
Foreigners who want to return to Qatar with other visa types (not work visas) are also exempt from the aforementioned rule.

Question
Does my landlord have the right to raise the value of the rent? He leased a flat to me for a year and then extended the lease period for two more years. But he demanded a rent hike when I wanted to extend the lease period yet again.

Answer
Tenants have to pay the rent specified in the contract. They can deposit this money at the treasury of the Rent Dispute Settlement Committee, but have to notify the landlord about it by registered mail.
The Civil Code says that leases end when the periods specified for them in the contract come to an end. Tenants do not have to be alerted about the end of their leases.
Tenants have to return leased properties to landlords at the end of their lease. Tenants who keep leased properties after leases come to an end without either the permission or logical reasons have to pay proper compensation to landlords.
Penal Code No. 11/2004 says legally entering real estate properties and remaining in them, contrary to the will of the landlord, after the legal permission comes to an end, involves a year of imprisonment and a fine of QR5,000.
As for the said case, I advise you to negotiate with the landlord, or look for another house.

Question
I have been working for a Qatari company for ten months now, having obtained a work visa in the country. I want to go back to my home country, but I am afraid of the consequences of telling my employer and leaving work because of the unstable condition of this employer. What can I do?

Answer
Labour Law No. 14/2004 gives both employer and employee the right to terminate the work contract without giving reasons, provided that the work contract is not definite. This means that the worker who asks this question has to notify his/her employer of his/her desire to leave work in a written form as follows:
Workers with service up to five years and who are paid on a monthly or a yearly basis have to give their employers a notice of their desire to leave work at least  one month in advance.
In other cases, this notification must be made on the
following dates:
The notification must be made one week in advance in case the worker’s service is less than one year.
In case of terminating the work contract with no regard to the aforesaid obligations, the party terminating the contract has to pay proper compensation to the other party.
Employers have to pay end-of- service benefits to the families of workers who die at work.
By applying all these rules to the person asking this question, I conclude that he/she does not deserve any of these benefits for spending less than a year in service. To get end-of-service benefits, this worker has to spend a year in service at least.
End-of-service benefits are defined in an agreement between the employer and employee. But in any case, this should not be less than the equivalent of a three-week payment for each year of service.
Employers have to shoulder the financial responsibility of sending workers back to where they hired them from.

Question
What is the punishment in law for kidnapping?
Answer
Those who kidnap, arrest, detain, or deprive others of their liberty face an imprisonment of up to ten years. The imprisonment can reach 15 years under the following circumstances:
— If the crime is committed by individuals who pretend to work with police and wear
police uniforms
— If the crime is committed by way of fraud, use of force, threat of death, physical, or psychological torture.
— If the crime is committed by two or more people, or a single person carrying a weapon.
— If the kidnap lasts more than 15 days.
— If the crime is committed with the purpose of getting a ransom, forcing the victim into prostitution, revenge, or crime
— If the crime is committed against a civil servant during his/her work hours.
— If the victim is a woman, a teenager, a mentally disabled or an unconscious person.
The penalty can amount to a death sentence if the crime results in the death of the victim.
Those who knowingly hide information about the above mentioned crimes are liable to the same penalty.