By Elaine Yu, Mike Ives and Livia Albeck Ripka

DOHA – The government of Qatar on Wednesday (28) expressed “regret” over a decision to pull more than a dozen women from a Qatar Airways flight in Doha and subject them to invasive medical exams after an abandoned newborn was found in an airport bathroom.

But the government defended officials’ actions, saying that it was the first time an infant had been discovered in such a condition at Hamad International Airport, and it called the abandonment this month an “egregious and life-threatening violation of the law”.

“While the aim of the urgently decided search was to prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping, the State of Qatar regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedoms of any traveller caused by this action,” the government said in a statement.

Women reported the Oct. 2 strip-searches to the Australian authorities after landing in Sydney, but the news broke only after local news outlets reported that female passengers had been marched off a Sydney-bound flight at the airport in the Qatari capital. Some were made to take off their underwear and submit to an invasive exam to see if they had recently given birth, an Australian nurse told The New York Times. Older women had their bellies pressed.

The case triggered shock and outrage in Australia, with a co-director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch calling the searches sexual assault. The director of Amnesty International Australia, Samantha Klintworth, described the exams “a gross breach of these women’s rights”. Australia’s federal police are investigating.

Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia, on Wednesday denounced the Qatari officials’ actions as “appalling”, adding, “As a father of daughters, I could only shudder at the thought that anyone would, Australian or otherwise, would be subjected to that.”

A 31-year-old nurse, who had been on the flight and asked to be identified only by her first name, Jessica, because of the personal nature of the exam, said that she and the other women who had been strip-searched felt relieved that the Qatari government had finally recognized their traumatic experience.

“I guess it’s nice that they’ve finally acknowledged that something has happened cause it was weeks ago now,” she said Wednesday. “We’re all struggling with what happened,” she added. “At this stage, we are still looking to take it further.” She said the women, who had formed a WhatsApp group to share information and support, were also concerned for the welfare of the infant’s mother.

The statement by the Qatari government revealed new details about the episode.

It said the newborn had been found in a trash can, “concealed in a plastic bag and buried under garbage.” It said the baby had been rescued from “what appeared to be a shocking and appalling attempt to kill her”.

The newborn was alive and “safe under medical care in Doha,” the government added. Information about the infant’s parents remained unavailable.

Qatar’s prime minister had directed that “a comprehensive, transparent investigation into the incident be conducted,” the statement said. “The results of the investigation will be shared with our international partners.”

Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday that 18 Australian women on Flight QR908 had been subjected to the searches. Payne said the plane was one of 10 flights where female passengers were given the exams and that women from other countries had also been searched.

Earlier, she called the searches “a grossly, grossly disturbing, offensive, concerning set of events. It is not something I have ever heard of occurring in my life in any context”.

Women on the flight reported the searches to Australian authorities after arriving at Sydney on Oct. 3, according to The Guardian, and one woman on the flight, an employee of the Foreign Affairs Department, emailed the department that night.

Kim Mills, a passenger in her 60s, told The Guardian that she had been the “luckiest one” among the women taken off the Qatar Airways flight because of her age. She recalled seeing a younger woman coming out of an ambulance “crying and distraught”.

The episode has highlighted the treatment of women in Qatar, where sex, pregnancy and childbirth outside of marriage are criminalized. Women accused of such crimes, even if their pregnancy resulted from rape, could face arrest or imprisonment.

The episode also raised questions about whether foreign women travelling through the airport in Qatar could legally be subject to invasive and potentially non-consensual procedures, experts said. In 2016, a Dutch woman who had reported being drugged and raped was convicted of adultery and handed a suspended sentence, along with fines.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns on its website that the Qatari authorities may not notify the Australian government after arresting or detaining its citizens.

Morrison, the prime minister, said in his statement, “It is important wherever travellers are travelling, they are able to do so, free of those types of incidents. And we will continue to ensure we support Australians and all those circumstances, both here and when travelling overseas.”

The Transport Workers’ Union of New South Wales in Australia said the airport episode was so “grossly disturbing” that its members who work at the Sydney airport were considering stopping servicing, cleaning or refueling Qatar Airways aircraft.

Hamad International Airport is Qatar Airways’ hub, one of the largest airports in the Middle East and a major transit point for international flights. It is scheduled to undergo a major expansion before Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup.

As of Wednesday morning, Qatar Airways had not made any public statements about the strip searches.

-New York Times