A court in Doha, Qatar, recently found a Turkish fast-food restaurant and five of its employees guilty of selling food unfit for human consumption and sentenced them to jail, fines and deportation. The defendants also must publish the verdict in a local daily newspaper at their own expense. 
The Court of Environmental Misdemeanors found that several Doha residents were sickened with symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in October 2014 after eating at the Marmara Istanbul restaurant. One of them was a pregnant woman who was taken to the hospital and gave birth prematurely. The restaurant was inspected by the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, which published photos of apparently dirty kitchen tools and food preparation areas. The ministry then ordered the restaurant closed for two months, although it has since reopened. The five defendants all pleaded not guilty to subsequent charges, and their trial began in November. During the court proceeding, health inspectors testified that they had analyzed both food samples and environmental swabs taken inside the restaurant. About a half-dozen samples of the food came back positive for harmful levels of bacteria, they said. A defense attorney noted that the food samples had been taken two days after the illnesses were reported, so any bacteria found on it might have developed after it was removed from the restaurant. Also, a lab technician reportedly said that by the time environmental samples were taken, the restaurant had been thoroughly cleaned. The five who were convicted remain free pending an appeal. They include the restaurant manager, who was sentenced to three months in jail and given a fine of about $2,750; three food service employees, who were given a month in jail and an approximately $1,900 fine each, and one other employee, who was responsible for the health certification of the restaurant, was sentenced to a month in jail and fined about $2,200. The court ordered all of them to be deported to Turkey after serving the sentences. The restaurant was also fined about $8,800 and ordered closed for another three months.
