Related cases:
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June 2, 2022 - CAS 2022_A_8569 Sheikh Ali Al Thani vs FEI
June 2, 2022 - CAS 2022_A_8570 Bassem Mohammed vs FEI
June 2, 2022 - FEI 2020 FEI vs Bassem Mohammed
December 17, 2021 - FEI 2020 FEI vs Mohamed Talaat
December 17, 2021 - FEI 2020 FEI vs Sheik Ali Al Thani
December 17, 2021
In January 2020 the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Qatari riders Sheik Ali Al Thani and Bassem Mohammed after their A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Cannabis in a concentration above the WADA threshold.
Because of their violation FEI sought the automatic disqualification of the Athlete’s results with all consequences for the Qatari Team based on the applicable FEI Rules. The Athlete’s filed statement in their defence and were heard for the FEI Tribunal.
The Athlete’s denied the intentional use of the substance and disputed the automatic disqualification of their results effecting the Qatar Team. They asserted that they were unaware that the shisha they had smoked contained Cannabis during their daily visits to the hotel’s shisha bar in Rabat at the time of the competition in Morocco in October 2019. They claimed that the Cannabis deliberately was added to their shishas by the Morocco Team and they had filed a criminal complaint with the Moroccan authorities in this matter.
They argued that prior to the hearing their procedural rights were violated and objected the decision that the Tribunal hearing was organized via videoconference call rather than in-person. The Athletes contended that the FEI decision on the elimination of the Qatar Team had to be suspended until the final decision on the criminal complaint in Morocco, as it was important to confirm whether the Athletes haven become the victim of a crime and to find out who has committed or instructed such crime.
The Tribunal rejects the reasoning for an in-person hearing by the Athletes while on this point of time the Athletes were not provisionally suspended as a result of the reported anti-doping rule violation. Neither is the purpose of this preliminary decision the imposition of a period of ineligibility on the Athletes. The Tribunal agrees that there were delays in the proceedings not attributed to the Athletes but disagrees that they had limited time to file their written submissions.
The FEI Tribunal deems that the Athlete’s test results showed the presence of a prohibited substance in their samples and accordingly that they had committed an anti-doping rule violation. Under the Rules this consequently leads automatically to the disqualification of their results leading to the elimination of the Qatar Team.
Therefore the FEI Tribunal decides on 15 February 2020 to disqualify the individual results of the Athletes obtained on 13 October 2019 which shall not count for the calculation of any Team results on the same day.
