Qatari Emir's brother imprisoned staff, ordered them to kill for him: US lawsuit

The brother of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has had a lawsuit filed against him accusing him of trying to have two people murdered and holding another captive.

Filed on July 23 in a US federal court, the lawsuit against Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani alleges he attempted to enlist his American security staffer to murder two people and ordered him to hold another American captive.

The lawsuit also includes complaints from a second plaintiff who says he was held captive in a compound and threatened with a gun while working as a medic for the Sheikh.

The second plaintiff added that he needed surgery for the injuries he received after being forced to scale a 5.4-meter (18-foot) perimeter wall to escape. The plaintiff escaped after Sheikh Khalid refused him a day off in approximately three weeks and then threatened him with a gun.

The lawsuit was first reported by the Daily Caller, an American news and opinion website.

Both plaintiffs - security guard Mathew Pittard and medic Mathew Allende - worked for the Sheikh in the US, Qatar, and any location to which the Sheikh chose to travel, according to the lawsuit.

Sheikh Khalid is accused of asking Pittard to murder two people.

“During his employment, Pittard was solicited by Defendant Khalid for the murder of two individuals. In approximately late September of 2017 and November of 2017, in Los Angeles, California, Defendant Khalid asked Pittard to murder a male and a female who Defendant Khalid viewed as threats to his social reputation and personal security. Pittard refused to execute these unlawful requests,” the factual allegations section of the lawsuit stated.

The allegations against the Sheikh also include the claim that he imprisoned an America citizen more than once.

The lawsuit alleges that Sheikh Khalid and his private Qatari staff held an American citizen against his will on at least two occasions during Pittard’s employment. The US embassy and Pittard came to the aide of the American citizen and helped him depart from Qatar, the lawsuit adds.

Sheikh Khalid threatened that Pittard “would pay the price” after learning about his role in helping the captive, according to the lawsuit, which adds that the Sheikh “directly told Pittard that he would kill him, bury his body in the desert, and kill Pittard’s family.”