Family Of Haywards Heath Man, Who Died In Qatar, Say Fans And Footballers Should Be Worried About Attending World Cup

The family of a man from Haywards Heath, who died under suspicious circumstances in Qatar, say visitors to the country should be "very worried indeed".

It's after the Foreign Office closed the case of Marc Bennett, 52, last week "without a single minister having contacted his family," according to The Mail online.

Bennett died in a Doha hotel room on Christmas Day, 2019, with authorities there claiming he had taken his own life.

However, a British coroner concluded that they had found "no specific evidence of suicidal intent" and the circumstances leading up to his death were unclear.

Bennett, who was a keen sportsman and former rugby player for the Harlequins, was a businessman with a senior position at Qatar Airways.

He resigned from the airline in October 2019 having been working on modernising the tourism infrastructure of the World Cup.

According to The Timers newspaper, he had been considering working for a Saudi Arabian business, but was accused of stealing confidential information and arrested.

The Sussex man told friends that while he was being detained in Doha he was stripped naked, blasted with high pressure hoses, slammed against walls and deprived of sleep.

He was detained for three weeks then released without charge and told that he was banned from leaving Qatar.

He was later found hanged in his hotel room, having been speaking happily to his family via video call the night before.

In a statement, Bennett's wife told the media that England and Wales football teams should consider what had happened to her husband when they go over there for the World Cup next month, as should the 1.2 million visitors expected to attend.

She said that the most prestigious football tournament had been handed to a "barbaric regime". She told The Times:

"If this can happen to a strong, intelligent, and kind man with a world of experience behind him, then all of us should be very worried indeed".

Preparations for the tournament have come under scrutiny over the past couple of years, after it was revealed that migrant workers were working in poor conditions and stifling heat.

In February 2021, The Guardian reported 6,500 workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, had "died in Qatar since it won its World Cup bid".

Amnesty International reported that without the over two million migrant workers, both men and women from mainly African and Asian nations, building the stadiums, the roads and the metro, the tournament wouldn't be going ahead. 

They added that the workers had been subjected to "expoitation, abuse, forced labour, unpaid wages and excessive working hours".

Its these human rights abuses that have sparked protests over the World Cup being hosted in the country, with Bennetts wife telling The Times: 

"Qatar is throwing millions at creating a veneer of respectability, which in reality hides a wholly unchanged barbaric regime.

"The footballing world should take a long, hard look at where it places its trust."

In response to allegations that Bennett had been mistreated in its detention facilities, the Qatari government told The Times:

"All detainees are treated with respect and dignity in accordance with international standards."