Where Is Noof Al-Madeed? Relative Claims Young Qatari Activist Is Being Held Against Her Will

A Qatari women's rights activist who mysteriously vanished after returning to her hometown from Britain is allegedly being held against her will in a psychiatric hospital, a family member claims.

Noof Al-Maadeed had been constantly fighting against the laws in Qatar, where women are restricted to get jobs, travel outside the country, or access healthcare without the approval of a male relative.

In 2019, the 23-year-old fled to Britain to escape years of abuse from her family, who she said had restricted her movements and beat her.

She had documented her escape from Qatar on social media and had been planning to apply for political asylum in Britain.

However, she was persuaded to return to her home country after the Qatari authorities assured her safety.

She returned on Oct. 13, the same day she was last heard of when she spoke to her social media followers about receiving threats.

“If you do not see any posts from me in the coming days, that means I have been handed over to my family against my will,” she told her followers during her return.

She tweeted “still not safe”, and later “a bit more OK” before her daily updates went silent.

Al-Madeed’s online disappearance raised fears for her safety, with some reports last week suggesting she had either been murdered or kidnapped.

However, a relative has now come forward claiming that Al-Madeed is alive but is being kept heavily sedated at a hospital in Qatar under a false name to keep her out of the public eye as her life is under “imminent danger”.

“We have been speaking to someone inside the hospital for updates – the situation sounds horrific and we want to have her back safe immediately,” the relative told The Times.

Human rights campaigners have come forward demanding the Qatari authorities prove she is alive.

“She said that if she is not posting on social media then it means she is dead. So we are just acting based on what she told us to do,” said Khalid Ibrahim, head of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR).

“The Qatari government can easily prove to the international community that she is alive. They have no proof, and that is of concern for us.”

Rothna Begum, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said: “We do not know what her current whereabouts are, if she’s safe, and if she’s able to communicate with the outside world.”

The young activist’s disappearance has triggered a massive outcry on social media and the hashtag #WhereisNoof has been trending on Twitter.