Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani

Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Full Name: Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Alias: Sheikh al-Thani Origin: Doha, Qatar Occupation: Emir of Qatar (25 June 2013 - present) Goals: Raise Qatar's international profile (ongoing) Expand his influence into Syria (ongoing) Crimes: Human rights violations Cronyism Slavery Terrorism Censorship Torture Type of Villain: Islamist Absolute Monarch

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (born June 3, 1980) is the current Emir of Qatar, having held power since the abdication of his father Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in 2013.

Although his cult of personality ensures his popularity as a symbol of Qatari nationalism, he is more controversial in other countries due to his regime's alleged support of Islamic terror groups, notably the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Qatari government has supplied with financial, diplomatic and medical support. Tamim and Hamad also both backed Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood-backed government in Egypt until it was overthrown in a coup by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Furthermore, Tamim is currently engaged in a proxy war against Iran in Syria, helping to form the Army of Conquest to this end.

Background

The Qatari government is notorious for stripping migrant workers of their passports and using them for slave labour. According to the German regional public service television channel WDR, several of its reporters were detained for several days in Qatar for collecting evidence on the conditions of migrant workers. The Guardian has reported that Nepalese migrants building the infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup died at a rate of one every two days in 2014. Human Rights Watch's “2014 World Report” confirmed the precarious conditions of the migrant workers, who sometimes live in unsanitary conditions and are subject to arbitrary restrictions on the right to leave Qatar, exploitation and abuse by employers.

Tamim runs a Sharia state, meaning that human rights abuses are common. For example, gay couples are imprisoned for up to five years if they can be proven to have had sex, and news about LGBT rights is prohibited. While few prosecutions are ever brought against homosexuals, they are usually held without trial for months, tortured and forced to undergo conversion therapy.

Many women who get pregnant with an illegitimate child are jailed; non-citizens who are forced to have sponsors are usually denied the right to leave Qatar and are therefore forced to seek refuge and counsel from their embassy. Sharia law also means that a woman's testimony in court is legally considered to carry less weight than a man's, and people are often flogged for drinking alcohol, which the United Nations considers a violation of the UN Convention Against Torture. All political parties are outlawed in Qatar, and Qatari legislative elections are not widely considered free or fair. Freedom of the press is heavily restricted, with news agencies critical of the government being censored.

In 2014, Tamim passed new cybercrime legislation, which was said to be part of an agreement among Gulf states to criminalize online insults of the region's royal families. The cybercrime law outlaws the spreading of "false news" as well as digital material that violates the country's "social values" or "general order". The legislation made it illegal to incite, aid and facilitate the publication of offensive material. The law has been criticized by those who say that it can be used to strip people of their human rights based on the misinterpretation of online chatter. Amnesty International called the law "a major setback for freedom of expression in Qatar", while other critics suggest that the new law will violate provisions of the country's constitution that protect civil liberties.