For the past four years, a French businessman rotted in a cell in Doha. Jean-Pierre Marongiu, founder of the management training company Pro & Sys, is accused of bad checks. An offense he contests, French website Le Point reported.

We contacted the prisoner by telephone. He complained about deplorable cleanliness, which has deteriorated since the embargo of June 5 decreed by the neighbors of Qatar, overcrowding, bullying, intimidation, and cockroaches. Jean-Pierre Marongiu revealed that several members of the Al-Thani family have recently been incarcerated. "About twenty of them. In my block, there are six," assures the entrepreneur, a native of Florange.

The official grounds for incarceration are always the same: bad checks, embezzlement, and, occasionally, drug possession.

In Qatar, Forbidden Truths, Emmanuel Razavi says from the very first pages that this country is on the brink of implosion. The Conservatives "are only waiting for a spark to set fire to the Majlis [the consultative assembly constituted by the representatives of the tribes] and to overthrow their prince, hoping to integrate Qatar into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". The author speaks in particular of an explosion in April 2012, which took place near the palace.

The rumor evoked an attempt at a military coup fomented by a general close to the Conservatives. It was impossible, however, to reach more information, the blackout was total.