QATAR, India — A Christian hospital technician from India employed in Qatar for the past 22 years was deported along with his wife and son from Qatar in late January by order of the Interior Ministry. “They are not saying what is the reason,” Stanislas Chellappa said as he prepared to leave the predominantly Muslim Gulf state.
“I am a Christian, and that is why they don’t want to say.” Chellappa served as pastor of a small congregation of Tamil-speaking Christians in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The government refused to allow Chellappa to appeal the deportation order, but alleged in private that it was linked to a corruption investigation involving employees at Hamad Hospital. Chellappa was shocked at the charges and said that, in the seven weeks of his ordeal, neither the Qatari authorities nor hospital representatives made any mention of corruption. “The police asked me several times if I was a Christian,” he noted, “but they said nothing about corruption.”
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