A London Employment Tribunal has ordered the Qatar Government to pay Deanne Kingson, a former personal assistant at London based Qatari Embassy, a compensation amount of £390,000 on account of sexual and religious discrimination.
Kignson faced sexual harassments regularly
The 58-year-old Kingson approached the London tribunal after she was regularly harassed for sexual encounters and asked to organize sexual parties for the diplomats, at the Mayfair based Qatari Embassy. In the case, brought up at the court of Employment judge Gill Brown, the victim alleged that following years of sexual and religious discrimination at the hands of Qatari diplomats, she was on the verge of committing suicide.
During the court proceedings, Kingson maintained that she was targeted for not being a Muslim and was rather seen as being liable or willing to engage in sexual conduct with male employees. Revealing the harassment faced at her workplace, Kingson, who was fired after eight years, told the court that executive ambassador Fahed Al-Mushairi invited her to his penthouse flat and asked her to consume khat, an Arabian plant and sexual stimulant, hoping that she would become sexually aroused and have intercourse with him.
Al-Mushairi wanted to marry Kingson's daughter
The court was told that Al-Mushairi made 'persistent' sexual advances towards Kingson along with passing humiliating and degrading sexual remarks. It was further stated that after Kingson refused his advances, Al-Mushairi turned his attention towards her teenage daughter.
The ambassador even approached Kingson to marry her 19-year-old daughter so that they could have sex without breaching strict Islamic law. A British national, Kingson, was employed at the embassy for eight years from 2006 till 2014. She was paid £30,000 annually. According to her lawyers, Kingson spent several years refusing the diplomats' advances and offers before she was finally fired without holiday pay in June 2014.
Kingson was forced to organise orgy parties
It was also revealed during the proceedings that another diplomat at the embassy, Ali Al Harjri, often pressurized Kingson to organize orgy parties for him. On certain occasions, he also asked Kingson to go on holiday with him to Cuba.
Reading out the judgment, Judge Brown said that Kingson was subjected to humiliating treatment which exploited her dignity and made her feel degraded and outraged. The judge further said, "The claimant was a relatively junior employee and the treatment was carried out by much more senior members of the diplomatic staff at the embassy. It involved suggesting to the claimant that her daughter be married for sexual purposes to an older man...The treatment of [Mrs Kingson] was disrespectful of her sex and the difference in her religion and belief.
I decided that the treatment was appropriately described as high-handed, malicious, insulting or oppressive". The judge awarded Kingson £390,000 in total – including £173,000 for loss of earnings and £1,250 for missing holiday pay.
