Diplomatic Impunity? Qatari Official Not the First to Stir Trouble on Assignment

Diplomatic immunity. They're either the two greatest words in the English language, or the two worst, depending on which side of the consulate one is standing.

In the case of Mohammed Al-Madadi, a vice-consult in the Qatari embassy in Washington, D.C., that immunity came quite in handy after the diplomat caused a security commotion by trying to light a cigarette on an airplane and then joking about it.

He was eventually released by authorities and sent on his way back to Washington. He's not expected to be charged, though he is expected to be sent home to Qatar.

But it wasn't the first time a diplomat, either in the United States or from the United States, got into a legal jam. Here's a look at some recent international incidents. In several cases, the diplomats were not able to avoid charges:

March 2010: An American diplomat in South Korea facing charges of cheating a local woman out of $200,000 fled to the Philippines. The official reportedly told the woman the money would go toward a school, but he gambled it away. He confessed in November and fled the country in early March.

February 2009: Afghan diplomat Mohammed Fagirad was charged in New York with beating his wife in their home. The wife filed a domestic violence report against the vice consul at the Afghan consulate, and prosecutors said Fagirad's immunity only covered work-related incidents.

December 2008: Customs agents arrested Dominican Republic consular employee Francisco Estevez on charges of smuggling aliens into the United States from his country.

April 2007: Israeli diplomat Yosef Ofri, stationed at the Atlanta consulate, was ordered to leave the country after pleading guilty to child exploitation and pornography charges. He was accused of providing someone he thought was under 16 years old with pornography - the "victim" was someone posing as a 15-year-old girl.

December 2004: U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher VanGoethem left Bucharest immediately after getting in a traffic accident that killed Romanian rock star Teofil Peter. VanGoethem was on embassy assignment and had diplomatic immunity. But he was charged a few months later by the U.S. Marine Corps with negligent homicide. The court-martial board in early 2006 recommended to reprimand VanGoethem, sparing him a more severe sentence.

March 2002: The United States withdrew diplomat John David Neighbor from Belgrade after he was arrested on spying charges. He had been accused of getting military secrets from the former chief of staff for the Yugoslav army.

January 1997: Georgian diplomat Gueorgui Makharadze was involved in a traffic accident that killed a teenage girl and injured four other people in Washington, D.C. He was accused of driving while intoxicated -- the incident was so severe he was stripped of his diplomatic immunity and prosecuted. He was eventually convicted on manslaughter charges and sentenced to seven to 21 years. He served three years in prison before being transferred to his home country.