Court grants leave for Australian women to sue Qatar Airways over alleged invasive physical examinations

Appeal decision in federal court opens door for legal action after 2020 incident at Doha airport

Five Australian women who allege they were forced off a Qatar Airways plane by armed guards before some were intimately examined at Doha airport will be able to sue the airline directly, the federal court has ruled.

The women launched an appeal in April last year hoping to overturn a ruling that the airline could not face trial for the October 2020 incident, when they were among more than a dozen women forcibly led from a Sydney-bound plane and escorted into ambulances.