DOHA: The trial in the tragic Villaggio Mall fire case is slated to begin on October 11 in a Lower Criminal Court.
A number of people, including a woman, are accused in the case involving the May 28 inferno that claimed 19 lives including those of 13 children, sources told this newspaper yesterday.
The first hearing in the case was scheduled for September 6 but it had to be adjourned by the Lower Criminal Court as three of the several accused failed to turn up, it is reliably learnt.
“Some seven to eight people are accused in the case,” a source told this newspaper.
The parents of the deceased children had turned out in full force on September 6 barring two of them (who were out of Qatar at the time) at Al Sadd court premises.
It is expected that they would be present during the October 11 hearing as well, though they expressed reservations about the charges filed by the Public Prosecution. Trial in the case has taken time to kick off since the court was closed during the summer break.
The affected parents had in a joint communication addressed to this newspaper earlier demanded action against those responsible for the fire but since the court was closed and it was a state versus accused case, their viewpoint could not be accommodated in the form of a report.
Meanwhile, local Arabic daily Al Arab reported yesterday that the documents published by Alarabia.net recently suggesting that the Villaggio fire was a handiwork of the Syrian Intelligence Agency were not authentic. “Alarabia.net has lost its credibility,” the daily said.
Alarabia.net, owned by Dubai-based Al Arabia TV Channel, had on October 1 posted documents that suggested that Syrian Intelligence had masterminded the fire to avenge Qatar’s support for Syrian rebels.
The documents claimed that the Syrian embassy in Doha had links to the Mall fire incident while the fact is that the embassy was closed down six months before the tragedy struck, local Arabic daily Al Arab reported yesterday.
And, many of those from the embassy whose names figure in the document left Doha as early as 2006.
“They simply published the document without verifying its authenticity,” the daily said.
Alarabia.net should have at least sought the version of the Qatari authorities after it had obtained the so-called documents on their authenticity. To cover up its mistake Alarabia.net interviewed one of the key opposition leaders of Syria on the issue and he simply said that such documents can be controversial due to the sensitive information they contained.
