DOHA: The Interior Ministry will set up a DNA database (bank) under the Department of Forensic Laboratory to store samples.
It follows the Law No 9 of 2013- on DNA profiling, issued by the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday.
Samples taken from crime scenes and other places will be stored. Samples will be taken from suspected criminals, unidentified corpses, families of missing people and missing individuals when they are found, to be used to identify them.
DNA samples of international criminals will be also stored with the permission of the Attorney General. Such samples will be taken from individuals based on a decision of the court.
Samples will also be taken and kept in the bank in criminal cases like threatening state security in and out of the country. People involved in crimes that breach public trust, social crimes, crimes against individuals and their properties, drug cases, money-laundering, terrorist funding could also undergo DNA tests and their samples be stored.
The database will be kept secret and no one will be allowed to access it without the permission of the Minister of Interior, Attorney General or the court concerned.
Samples should not be used for purposes that are not mentioned in the law. If samples are misused or accessed without permission from authorities, the erring person will face a maximum of one year in jail or QR30,000 fine or both. The Peninsula
