Emirates Leaks reveals documents on how the UAE recruited the Pakistani Mustafa Qadri
The documents obtained by Emirates Leaks revealed how the UAE recruited the Pakistani Mustafa Qadri to work among its mercenaries to whitewash Abu Dhabi’s reputation and attack its opponents.
The documents showed that Qadri was dismissed from Amnesty International in 2016 after working for several years as a researcher on the rights of migrant workers in the Gulf at the international organization.
The documents confirmed that Qadri was dismissed after it was proven that he was subject to an investigation on charges of receiving large financial bribes from the Kingdom of Bahrain to avoid criticism of Manama and focus on his work on attacking Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
After his dismissal, Qadri established the Equidem organization for research and consultancy, thanks to the UAE’s direct and indirect financial contributions.
The Equidem, led by Qadri, signed several sponsorship contracts with Emirati-funded organizations, including Humanity United Foundation, which has close ties to suspicious investments in Abu Dhabi and receives organized funding from them to incite against Qatar.
The documents showed that the UAE paid financial commissions to tens of millions of dollars to those in charge of the Humanity United Foundation to publish fabricated articles and reports against Doha.
According to the documents, the contractual relationship between the UAE and the Humanity United Foundation began in 2014. The foundation’s work strategy is mainly based on media incitement against Qatar until the end of the 2022 World Cup.
The documents showed that Humanity United is active in contracting with human rights organizations and journalists with large sums of money provided by the UAE, including stipulating an attack on Qatar and an attempt to offend it and tarnish its image, and from these Qadri name emerged.
The documents also revealed that the Equidem organization, led by Qadri, concluded several contracts of sponsorship and cooperation with institutions emanating from the Emirates Human Rights Lobby in Europe, which received Emirati funding in 2015 to target Qatar until the end of 2022.
In addition, the documents showed Qadri’s cooperation with Emirati institutions in programs that claim to be dedicated to improving workers’ rights, including a program with substantial Emirati funding through the Emirates Green Building Council.
The Emirates Green Building Council launched the project with HSBC Bank Middle East, training partner Equidem and knowledge partner Multiplex.
The program claimed that it aims to support efforts to achieve the welfare of workers in line with the labour laws in force in the UAE and the conventions of the International Labor Organization ratified by the state.
Qadri recently launched positive statements about the UAE to whitewash its image and reputation, especially in light of the increasing pace of international criticism directed against it against the background of the workers’ file.
In this regard, he stated during the signing of one of the UAE-funded agreements that the UAE is “moving forward in the process of transformation towards more sustainable business practices in line with the highest international standards”, claiming that Abu Dhabi is keen to address issues related to workers’ well-being and improve their financial conditions.
Qadri pointed out that thousands of workers in Dubai and other emirates are working in the construction sector and related industries, so it is essential to enable these workers to know their rights and educate employers and other concerned parties.
