An SNP MP enjoyed a “sickening” luxury £5400 junket to Qatar despite the World Cup host’s appalling human rights record and alleged terror links.
Angus MacNeil accepted flights, hotel accommodation, meals and drinks on the March trip to Doha to meet a member of the hard-line Arab state’s ruling family, we can reveal.
He and a delegation of eight Tory MPs attended a conference at the Sheraton Grand resort, where five-star rooms can cost more than £10,000 a night.
It was the Western Isles MP’s second trip in less than six months to the repressive dictatorship. Last October he accepted £7767 of hospitality.
More than 6500 migrant workers in Qatar are reported to have died building World Cup stadiums in horrific conditions since Fifa awarded the tournament 10 years ago.
Former MSP Neil Findlay, who has campaigned to highlight the abuses, said: “This is the most tainted World Cup of all time. It’s now more than seven years since trade unions and human rights organisations were highlighting the carnage of tens of thousands of lost migrant workers’ lives on World Cup building sites.
“To see Scottish politicians junketing to and giving cover to Fifa’s corruption and Qatar’s abuses is truly sickening.”
The Sunday Mail was the first newspaper to reveal shocking conditions endured by World Cup stadium workers in an award-winning report in 2014.
Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family bans criticising the Emir, insulting Qatar’s flag, defaming religion and inciting “to overthrow the regime”.
It remains one of the few countries in the world where being gay is illegal.
Unmarried Qatari women under 25 still cannot travel outside the country without permission from their male guardian.
There have also been allegations of corruption surrounding their World Cup bid. It has been claimed the gas-rich nation used secret slush funds to make dozens of payments totalling more than £3.8million to senior officials in world football to create support for its bid.
Despite the controversies, MacNeil – who was convicted of careless driving in May after a crash left a teenager seriously injured – attended the Doha Forum along with Conservative MPs Saqib Bhatti, Crispin Blunt, Nigel Evans, Jerome Mayhew, Mark Pritchard, John Wittingdale, Bill Wiggin and Craig Williams.
The event was also attended by former footballer David Beckham, who is facing outrage over a £15million-a-year “sportswashing” deal with Qatar ahead of the World Cup.
Despite being a Unicef ambassador, Beckham remained silent when questioned about Qatar’s human rights record and treatment of gay people. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, tech entrepreneur Bill Gates and US diplomat John Kerry were also at the event.
In 2017, the SNP was urged to end its “friendship” with Qatar after widespread allegations that the state was sponsoring Islamic terrorist groups.
The Scottish Government has spent years building economic and cultural ties.
In 2013, it hosted a “Scotland Day” event in Doha and has also arranged a series of ministerial visits to lobby for investment in public infrastructure projects.
Gulf neighbours have criticised the country over claims the regime funds extremist organisations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Former US president Donald Trump accused Qatar of funding terrorism “at a very high level”.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have all previously imposed a blockade, citing the allegations.
SNP ministers, including Alex Salmond as first minister, visited Qatar four times in six years.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf spoke of a “deepening friendship” after hosting the Scotland Day event.
He was criticised for seeking £1.3billion for infrastructure projects while failing to mention concerns around the treatment of World Cup workers.
In 2015, Nicola Sturgeon stopped short of backing calls to boycott a friendly match between Scotland and Qatar at Easter Road.
However, she said if corruption was proven in the World Cup bid that Qatar should be stripped of the event.
MacNeil travelled to Qatar for three days on March 25.
His previous trip there in October was attended with 21 MPs. They were on a British-Qatari All-Party Parliamentary Group trip worth nearly £160,000 from October 7 to 17.
The junket was organised and paid for by the Qatari regime’s foreign ministry and they are understood to have been put up at the five-star St Regis Doha. It has 12 restaurants, a 22-bed spa retreat and a private beach.
The group included Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.
The MPs insisted they went to discuss “Qatar’s humanitarian and political response to the Afghanistan crisis, preparations for the World Cup, workers’ rights reform and bilateral relations”.
MacNeil’s register of interests shows he also accepted two tickets for the Brit Awards worth £1700 in February from the British Phonographic Industry. In recent years he has also accepted free tickets to cricket and rugby events worth more than £1000.
We attempted to contact MacNeil by phone at his office and by email but he did not respond.
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