A MAN who was found hanged in a hotel in Qatar was tortured by the country’s secret police before his death on Christmas Day, an investigation has claimed.

Marc Bennett, 52, was found dead in his room at the Curve Hotel in Doha in 2019. 

The father-of-three from Haywards Heath had been headhunted by Discover Qatar, a subsidiary of Qatar Airways, to boost the country's tourism industry ahead of the World Cup

However, he was arrested in October after announcing he was leaving his job for a rival firm in Saudi Arabia, The Times has reported.

Authorities declared his death a suicide but a Sussex coroner ruled that “whilst Marc Bennett died of hanging, there is no specific evidence of suicidal intent”.

An investigation by The Times has claimed that Marc was arrested after resigning from a senior post with Qatar Airways, held in a detention centre where he was mentally and physically tortured and later banned from leaving the country.

Marc’s decision to quit the airline to work for a company in Saudi Arabia, which at the time was involved in a diplomatic blockade of Qatar, was “seen as a massive insult”, according to a former senior executive speaking to The Times.

He reportedly told friends before his death that after being arrested by Qatari authorities, he was taken to a bare cell, stripped naked and had a high-pressure hose directed at his genitals.

Marc was also allegedly slammed against a wall, cutting open the back of his head, with his guards pressuring him to describe how he might “commit suicide”.

In an interview with The Times, Marc’s widow, Nancy, said: “He was anxious, frightened, he didn’t know what was happening.

“He was hoping he would be deported, he was looking at flights every single day - not necessarily to the UK but anywhere.

“He would go for daily walks, he’d borrow a friend’s bike but when he was out, he would walk with a hoodie up and if cars did slow down behind him, he said his heart would start pounding.”

Two nights before his death, Marc called home to catch up with his family, with Nancy telling The Times everyone was “laughing and joking” during the call. There was also hope he would visit friends in the new year.

However, calls to Marc’s hotel room and mobile went unanswered on Christmas Eve, with police in Sussex breaking the news of his death on the night of Christmas Day.

Nancy told The Times: “There are so many questions. He left here with the whole world ahead of him.”

Qatar Airways told The Times that Marc was a “valued and popular former colleague… who made a significant contribution to our business”.

“While we were sad to see him leave the business, he left with our best wishes,” a company spokesman said.

The Qatari government did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment, but in an official note to the Foreign Office it said that Marc had been “released in good health” and that security services were not responsible for his suicide.