The US Embassy

This page talks about the support or more honestly the serious LACK of support I received from the US Embassy and State Department. There are letters from me to Head of Consular Operations and to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as a response from the State Department.

Public Service Announcement: I am not interested in POLITICS; I am ONLY interested in coming Home to see my family! My issues are with the U.S. State Department and ONLY the U.S. State Department.

When I discovered everything that was happening after being released on bail, I immediately called the U.S. Embassy to tell them what had happened and to find out what I should do. They responded with “Get a Lawyer”, I asked if they could help with that and they said we cannot recommend anyone but we can send you a list of lawyers in Doha. I said please and they sent it, it was a list that looked like someone had googled “Lawyers in Doha” and then printed it, oh and it was from 2017! The Embassy and the State Departments stance on assisting me through all of this has been very, very consistent... NOPE!

My family and I kept the Embassy updated throughout all of the court cases, and then when I was taken to prison, we immediately informed them. A few days after I was placed in prison the embassy sent a representative, Phil (who had only been in Qatar for two weeks), to meet with me, both because my father had sent some paperwork to handle my affairs in the US for me to sign and to let me know what they would be "able" to do to help me while I was in prison. On the "help" they would be "able" to provide I was told that if:

I was having health problems they would help (you'll see how that worked out)
I was being abused they would help out (I'm not discussing that on here)
I was being treated differently from other prisoners they would help (HAHAHAHA)

One of the documents my father had sent was a power of attorney and required a notary stamp, a service the Embassy provides for $50.00. Now I had just been put in prison for a crime I didn't commit in a foreign country and was scared as hell, obviously this was my ONLY priority. However, during our conversation while I was trying to explain everything, Phil made his priority clear and brought up his concern for how he was going to collect the $50.00 notary fee THREE TIMES in 20 minutes!! Needless to say, this did not get us off on a good start.

In December of 2022, when I had been in prison for about five months, I had the joy of watching on TV as the US State Department traded an Arms Dealer back to Russia to secure the release of Mrs. Griner who had been convicted of bringing smuggling cannabis oil, a crime she pled guilty to. Now please understand, I am happy Mrs. Griner got to go home, but I was in a RAGE over the fact that the State Department had refused to help me in any way with my case! The following morning, I called the Embassy and spoke with Phil basically demanding to know what the hell, how was it fair that others were getting helped and not me. He said that it was a decision from Washington D.C., and when I asked him to speak to Washington D.C., he said he couldn't, that "Things come down from there and not go up to there." I then had the privilege of continuing to watch as the US State Department continued to work for the release of over a dozen Americans around the world while in sat in prison, and those are just the ones I saw on TV. Needless to say I was am still not real happy with the US State Department. During my time in prison, I repeatedly asked for help, both verbally and in writing only to receive politely worded "No" in various forms, when I could even get an answer. Here are 2 of the letters I wrote to the Embassy and State Department, along with the one written reply I received.

This first letter is to Phil at the embassy, and was sent 3 days before Evan Gershkovich was returned home from his imprisonment in Russia.

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This second letter was sent to Secretary Marco Rubio and I have attached the response I received from the State Department

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Beyond refusing to assist me during the worst time in my life, their promise of help if I had medical problems, was an absolute joke! While in prison I when from weighing 228lbs down to 156lbs, and it's not a diet plan I recommend; my blood pressure hit stage 3 Hyper-tension; and my back which has always given me some problems due to a slipped disk, give up the fight. Right now, I cannot lay on my back on a firm flat surface without 5 minutes of huge pain and my muscles and spine try to re-align to allow it.

The consistently most painful problem was my back, you see in the prison there were only backless steel benches to sit on and the mattresses were, well, I mean technically they existed. In other words, there was ZERO back support anywhere. I received prescriptions from three different doctors (2 in the prison and 1 specialist) saying that I needed a chair and a mattress for my back as well as physical therapy. It took the Embassy nine months just to arrange a chair for me, and on the mattress another three months. Nine months of daily pain, not getting much sleep, all added to the fact that I was in prison for something I did NOT do! As for the physical therapy, that was a complete joke, I was taken to a gym in the prison where a guy sat behind a desk gave a few instructions and then watched TV and that lasted just over a month before they stopped taking me.

I could go on for pages and pages about the Embassy and the State Department, like the fee's they charged my family just to deliver money to me so I could by necessities, them telling me that "oh well all believe your innocent, but we just can't do anything," etc., etc. but then the rage goblin would take over so I'll leave it here on my time in prison. There are just two more points to make.

First, when I was finally released from prison and the deportation "center" back into Doha, only to be stuck with no way to go home, get a job, or move on with my life, true to form the Embassy has continued to tell me all the ways they "cannot" help me.

And finally, I need to give credit where it is due, there is one bright light at the US Embassy in Qatar, his name is Jalil. Jalil is a Senior American Citizen Services Specialist, but basically that meant he was the one to come and visit me in prison. Generally, he was the one tasked with giving me all the reasons why his bosses at the State Department couldn't help me, but he also provided a sympathetic ear, as well as being the one that ended up providing me with the chair, from his own home! He purchased clothing for me when I needed it and was the one who delivered letters from my family. Jalil is the only person in the Embassy who I believe actually gave a damn about me and what I was going through.