Compensation Claims Committee to receive complaints on siege

Attorney General, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, yesterday  said the Compensation Claims Committee, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, will receive all cases of requests and complaints filed by those affected by the siege in the public and private sectors as well as individuals.
In a press conference held in Doha after the inauguration of the Committee's headquarters at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC), Dr Al Marri said the Committee will be chaired by the Attorney General and include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice as members with the possibility of coordination with several bodies in the State.
Each director of legal department in all sectors shall be an important part in the new Committee. The newly-formed Committee would receive all claims, sort and decide them and then refer them to the relevant jurisdictions, whether at the local level (the Qatari courts) or at the level of the international courts in cases requiring international arbitration through overseas law firms commissioned by the Committee to handle the claims.

Each file will be studied separately

The new Committee shall be considered as a central committee to receive all types of complaints, grievances and requests relating to the siege. It would be the sole Committee to follow up damage cases raised by individuals, private and public companies, State institutions, banks, national carrier company and other affected parties, Dr Al Marri said, expressing appreciation for the efforts being made by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in this regard since the beginning of the crisis. The Committee would be permanent and its mission shall not end with the end of the crisis, he said.
The difference between politics and law is that in law there is continuity, unlike politics, which could be stopped by certain conditions, he added, emphasizing the right to compensation for civil or criminal damages, which is guaranteed by law.
In this context, Dr Al Marri referred to Arab and European similar cases, where countries are still paying compensation after decades of damages resulting of wars or crises.
From a legal point of view, each file submitted to the committee shall be studied and decided upon separately, taking into account its specificities in terms of violation or damage to the plaintiff, Al Marri concluded.
For his part, Nasser bin Rashid al Nuaimi, President of the Qatar Lawyers Association, told reporters the Association has paid great attention to complaints since the beginning of the crisis and that it would be in constant contact with the Committee for Compensation Claims in all lawsuits and complaints.
Earlier the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani inaugurated the Headquarters of the Committee for Compensation Claims, at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, which is in charge of handling all lawsuits due to be filed by government agencies, entities, ministries, public institutions, individuals and Qatari companies to claim compensation for the damages and losses caused by the siege imposed on the State of Qatar.
The Prime Minister toured the Committee's Headquarters and was briefed on the mechanism of receiving claims and complaints sorting and referring them to the judicial bodies.