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UPDATE: Qatar frees detained British NGO workers

On September 11, 2014

A pair of British NGO workers investigating migrant workers' rights in Qatar have been freed after 8 days in detention.

Krishna Prasad Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev, employees of Global Network for Rights and Development, disappeared on 31 August. The pair had told friends and colleagues by text message the day before that they had been followed and harassed by plainclothes police.

Upadhyaya and Gundev had been carrying out interviews with Nepali construction workers employed to build World Cup 2022 infrastructure in Doha in the days leading up to their arrest.

They will fly home to London this morning.

A statement from GNRD said:

The news is a fantastic relief for the families, friends and all those who have been following the case during the past eight days. GNRD has yet to receive details as to why Krishna and Gundev were held for this period without any access to their families or lawyers.
Their disappearance sparked international outrage, with extensive coverage in The Independent, The Guardian and the BBC, and a petition which reached over 55,000 signatures.