accused of torturing a businessman who allegedly had secret information about him and the Qatar 2022 World Cup
This was detailed to EFE this Wednesday by the businessman’s lawyer, John Branco, who offered a press conference on a convoluted matter that has aroused great media interest in France.
Tayeb BenabderrahmaneFrench-Algerian businessman based in Doha since he was hired by the Qatari Human Rights Committee as a consultant in June 2019, was arrested and locked up in a secret prison from January 2020 to July 2020, until, according to Branco, he was forced to sign an agreement that would have Al-Khelaifi’s signature.
Al-Khelaifi”has been an accessory to arbitrary arrest, detention in secret prisons in Qatar and acts of torture against an individual that Mr. Al-Khelaifi considered as a person who had information that concerned him, including about the 2022 World Cup, which he did not want to be disseminated, “he said.
The lawyer, who leads other cases against PSG in relation to the contracts of Mbappé and Messi, He did not detail the type of information that the businessman would have about Al-Khelaifialthough he showed a document, supposedly signed by the PSG leader, and which according to him would corroborate his client’s version.
An “illegal” deal
“They forced him to sign a protocol, also signed by Al-Khelaifi, while detained in Qatarcompletely illegally,” added Branco.
The lawyer and his legal team have filed two complaints in France, one for acts of torture and another for attempted extortion against x
Branco asserted that, in addition to his own Al-Khelaifi, there was a team of former powerful French ministers and former deputies who intervened in the case in favor of Qatar pressuring Benabderrahmane to sign the confidentiality agreement.
The lawyer justified that his client took a year to move the case legally because he did not have the notion of what happened until he was able to return to France at the end of 2020 and because then the French Government ignored their allegations.
However, Benabderrahmane himself, along with two former police officers, is being investigated by France and is accused of falsehood, corruption, concealment and complicity in the misappropriation of the purpose of a filein an investigation of influence peddling related to PSG.
“What was not expected is that while he was detained (Benabderrahmane was detained for 72 hours) information came out showing that he had been a victim of what we have described by the Qatari authorities, with the complicity of French actors or acting in France, such as Mr Al-Khelaifi“Branco concluded.
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