I am Margaret Downs, 20 year old daughter of the American, John Downs, currently imprisoned in the country of Qatar on charges of espionage. I’m writing to you on behalf of my family and myself, asking for a moment of your time to try to explain the impact that my father’s absence has had on our family and those around us. I appreciate you taking the time to just read what I have to say and I can’t thank you enough for any action you might take after learning of our situation.

Before someone in your family is taken away from you so abruptly, you really can’t comprehend how much they hold your world together. Without that single person in your family all the rest falls miserably apart. In the Downs family, which consisted of both my parents, my two brothers and I, my father was the one who effortlessly held us all together through everything. . . My father’s strength and intelligence has always amazed me, but through this hardship there’s been a shift in his priorities, and when I visit him these days my father’s love for me and my brothers astounds me.