Stranded footballer Belounis' battle to get out of Qatar getting close to a resolution

PUBLISHED: 12:04 EST, 24 November 2013 | UPDATED: 12:04 EST, 24 November 2013

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Zahir Belounis, the journeyman footballer trapped in Qatar claiming 18 months of unpaid wages, may have won his battle to get out of the country.

The plight of the French-Algerian, who says he is a 'destroyed' man after being forced to sell all his possessions, has caused outrage among human rights organisations, with Fifa urged to intervene on his behalf.

Belounis, who is understood to be on medication for depression, has been advised to stop talking to the media amid delicate negotiations.

Family man: Football player Zahir Belounis, with his family on Facebook, has been stranded for more than two years in Qatar over a contract and wages dispute with the Qatar Olympic Commission

The case has heaped even more embarrassment on Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers and last night a Belounis family source said significant progress was expected within the next 24 hours, without being specific.

‘The deadline over what they have promised is Sunday – or Monday at the very latest,' said the source who asked not to be identified. 'But we have to stay quiet so as not to jeopardise the situation.'

Belounis’ story of desperation has led to global concern over Qatar’s brutal kafala employment system that ties employees to so-called 'sponsors'.

World Cup officials have promised to amend the law before 2022 but last night it emerged that British sailor Tracy Edwards, who in 1989 skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, suffered similar persecution in Qatar eight years ago which, she said, bankrupted her.

Controversial: Foreign construction workers line up to catch buses to their accommodation camp in Doha

Work in progress: FIFA has said it will put pressure on 2022 World Cup hosts over the conditions of workers

'I could not leave, I could not pay my rent, I had to sell my furniture to generate money,' she said. 'Zahir Belounis apparently had to do the same. That’s scary.'

Edwards explained: 'We had signed a deal in 2003, we were supposed to receive £6m from Qatar Sports International, a company owned by the Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in a move to make Qatar one of the outstanding sailing hubs in the world.

'Part of the project was the Oryx Quest 05 race round the world, held in 2005 and a great success.

'It was organized and financed by me. I never received money from QSI, they claimed we never had a contract. I got an email thanking me for the great success in organizing and financing the race.

No reward: Tracy Edwards was thanked for her organisation and funding of Oryx Quest 05 race but says she was never reimbursed

World first: Edwards skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race

'I had to fund it with a loan which bankrupted me, my house went into collateral. QSI was dissolved while the race was held and renamed: Qatar Sports Investment. Different name, but the same people.'

'I first flew back with my people to England, but then I received a request from my ‘sponsor’ the Qatari Foreign Minister to come back to solve the financial issues. At this point, I thought I would get my money. So I flew back, against the advice of my family and friends and my own gut feeling. Then things got very nasty, very quickly.

'My exit visa was denied, just like in Zahir’s case. And I had the feeling I was being followed and that my phone was tapped. I was really scared, I only communicated with my family via coded text messages. And it was impossible to get in touch with my sponsor – all the people that I had thought
I had a network with vanished all of a sudden.'