18/5/10
Please contact Harrods' new owners at the address below.
Some of you will by now be aware that Harrods was bought last week by Qatar Holding, a company set up by and operated on behalf of the Qatari Royal Family. You probably also know that Harrods is the only department store in the UK which continues to sell real fur, despite the fact the production of fur is illegal in the this country.
For several years anti-fur campaigners had been trying to persuade the previous owner Mohamed Al Fayed to withdraw fur from sale, but instead Al Fayed went to court and took out legal injunctions to try to have the protests stopped. After 4 years of protests and court cases, the campaign continued. When Qatar bought Harrods they also bought the campaign that goes with it.
Qatar Holding is basically an arm of the Qatari royal family, which rules the tiny, but oil rich Gulf Arab state. The Chairman of Qatar Holding is also the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, (His Excellency Sheikh. Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani.) He is also part of the Al Thani Dynasty which has ruled Qatar for almost 2 centuries, his cousin is the Emir of Qatar.
We are hoping that the new owners will take the compassionate step of stopping the sale of fur in Harrods once and for all, and that is where you can help us.
Our first
step is to write polite emails and letters to Qatar Holding and to the Qatari
government explaining the campaign and why they should stop selling fur
in Harrods.
Explain the horrors of the fur trade, and also send info and links to anti-fur
websites, films etc.
Each
letter should be individual, but some points you may want to include are:
* Harrods is the only UK department store to sell fur, every one of the
hundreds of other department stores in the UK has a fur free policy, including
all of Harrods' rivals such as Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.
* The production of fur is illegal in the UK on ethical grounds. The farming
of animals for fur was outlawed in 2001, and the leghold trap has been illegal
for over 50 years.
* Over 80% of the UK population is opposed to the fur trade, and a ban on
the sale of fur in Harrods would be very popular.
Please keep all communications polite and informative and please copy us in (london@caft.org.uk) and send any replies to us.
Qatar
Holding
Write FAO: His Excellency Sheikh. Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani. Chair
of Qatar Holding, Prime Minister of Qatar.
HEAD OFFICE
37 - Mohammed Bin Thani St., Bin Omran Area
Al Maha Building,
Tel: +974-4976454
Fax: +974-4293440
P.O. Box 28882 Doha, Qatar
info@qh.com.qa, qh@qh.com.qa
Qatar
Embassy in London
Write FAO: His Excellency Sheikh. Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani. Prime
Minister of Qatar.
Address: 1 South Audley Street, London W1K 1NB.
Tel: (+44-20) 7493 2200
Fax: (+44-207) 4932819, 4932661
it@qatarembassy.info, london@mofa.gov.qa
You could
also contact the Qatar Embassy in your own country.
Where to find the Qatar embassy in your country: http://qa.embassyinformation.com/?einfo
If anyone has, or can find out, any further information on the new Qatari owners of Harrods and how to contact them, please also let us know.
