Fears raised for Qataris if they support LGBTQ+ rights during World Cup
Paul MacInnes - The Guardian
Residents of Qatar face the risk of persecution if they stand up for gay rights during the World Cup, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned.
Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty
Raising the rainbow flag, engaging in chants or even liking pro-LGBTQ+ content on social media may leave a trail of evidence that could be used to persecute individuals once the World Cup has left the country, according to Rasha Younes of HRW’s LGBT Rights Program.
Related: Gay football fans should not have to compromise in Qatar, says Nadhim Zahawi
“As Qatar advances its surveillance capabilities including inside football stadiums, the possibility of LGBT Qataris being persecuted for publicly supporting LGBT rights will remain long after the fans have gone,” Younes said.
“If an individual were even to retweet a post about affirmative LGBT rights this individual could be targeted long after the World Cup is over and in ways that we may not have access to.”
Concerns have long been raised over the safety of LGBTQ+ visitors to Qatar during the World Cup. This week the campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in the country for protesting for LGBTQ+ freedoms. There have also been mixed messages from the UK government over how fans should approach any visit to the country for the tournament, with the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, suggesting they should modify their behaviour, with “a little bit of flex and compromise”. On Thursday the Conservative party chair, Nadim Zahawi, appeared to contradict Cleverly, saying: “The policies of the government of Qatar are not our policies, nor would we condone them.”
Residents have long faced discrimination from the state over their identity. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with punishments of up to seven years in jail possible. This week HRW published a report in which it documented what it claimed was “arbitrary” police action against LGBTQ+ residents, including six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022. A Qatari official said HRW’s allegations “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false”, without specifying.
Younes said that those within football should listen to concerns from LGBTQ+ supporter groups but that the risk faced by locals was greater.
“LGBT residents of Qatar are the people we are most concerned about,” she said. “There needs to be an honouring of expression during the World Cup. But we also know that in any potential crackdown against individuals beyond the World Cup the people who are the most affected are going to be the LGBT residents of Qatar.
“This needs to be factored into any policies, any concrete interventions that Fifa undertakes, or the Supreme Committee [the body in charge of organising the World Cup] or any coalitions, in terms of affording protections for the LGBT residents of Qatar who may face any grievances.”
The Guardian approached the Qatari government and the Supreme Committee for comment. In response, the Supreme Committee said: “The Fifa World Cup will be a tournament for everyone – much like previous editions of the tournament.
“Everyone will be welcome to Qatar in 2022, regardless of their race, background, religion, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.
“We are a relatively conservative society – for example, public displays of affection are not a part of our culture. We believe in mutual respect and so whilst everyone is welcome, what we expect in return is for everyone to respect our culture and traditions.”
Paul MacInnes - The Guardian
Residents of Qatar face the risk of persecution if they stand up for gay rights during the World Cup, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned.
Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty
Raising the rainbow flag, engaging in chants or even liking pro-LGBTQ+ content on social media may leave a trail of evidence that could be used to persecute individuals once the World Cup has left the country, according to Rasha Younes of HRW’s LGBT Rights Program.
Related: Gay football fans should not have to compromise in Qatar, says Nadhim Zahawi
“As Qatar advances its surveillance capabilities including inside football stadiums, the possibility of LGBT Qataris being persecuted for publicly supporting LGBT rights will remain long after the fans have gone,” Younes said.
“If an individual were even to retweet a post about affirmative LGBT rights this individual could be targeted long after the World Cup is over and in ways that we may not have access to.”
Concerns have long been raised over the safety of LGBTQ+ visitors to Qatar during the World Cup. This week the campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in the country for protesting for LGBTQ+ freedoms. There have also been mixed messages from the UK government over how fans should approach any visit to the country for the tournament, with the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, suggesting they should modify their behaviour, with “a little bit of flex and compromise”. On Thursday the Conservative party chair, Nadim Zahawi, appeared to contradict Cleverly, saying: “The policies of the government of Qatar are not our policies, nor would we condone them.”
Residents have long faced discrimination from the state over their identity. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with punishments of up to seven years in jail possible. This week HRW published a report in which it documented what it claimed was “arbitrary” police action against LGBTQ+ residents, including six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022. A Qatari official said HRW’s allegations “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false”, without specifying.
Younes said that those within football should listen to concerns from LGBTQ+ supporter groups but that the risk faced by locals was greater.
“LGBT residents of Qatar are the people we are most concerned about,” she said. “There needs to be an honouring of expression during the World Cup. But we also know that in any potential crackdown against individuals beyond the World Cup the people who are the most affected are going to be the LGBT residents of Qatar.
“This needs to be factored into any policies, any concrete interventions that Fifa undertakes, or the Supreme Committee [the body in charge of organising the World Cup] or any coalitions, in terms of affording protections for the LGBT residents of Qatar who may face any grievances.”
The Guardian approached the Qatari government and the Supreme Committee for comment. In response, the Supreme Committee said: “The Fifa World Cup will be a tournament for everyone – much like previous editions of the tournament.
“Everyone will be welcome to Qatar in 2022, regardless of their race, background, religion, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.
“We are a relatively conservative society – for example, public displays of affection are not a part of our culture. We believe in mutual respect and so whilst everyone is welcome, what we expect in return is for everyone to respect our culture and traditions.”
Qatar: Security Forces Arrest, Abuse LGBT People
Discrimination, Ill-Treatment in Detention, Privacy Violations, Conversion Practices
Click to expand Image
Evening traffic on the Corniche promenade with the skyline of West Bay Doha the background
Discrimination, Ill-Treatment in Detention, Privacy Violations, Conversion Practices
Click to expand Image
Evening traffic on the Corniche promenade with the skyline of West Bay Doha the background
© 2022/Christian Charisius/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images.
(Beirut) – Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. LGBT people interviewed said that their mistreatment took place as recently as September 2022, as Qatar prepared to host the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in November and even as the government came under intense scrutiny for its treatment of LGBT people.
Human Rights Watch documented six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022. Security forces arrested people in public places based solely on their gender expression and unlawfully searched their phones. As a requirement for their release, security forces mandated that transgender women detainees attend conversion therapy sessions at a government-sponsored “behavioral healthcare” center.
“While Qatar prepares to host the World Cup, security forces are detaining and abusing LGBT people simply for who they are, apparently confident that the security force abuses will go unreported and unchecked,” said Rasha Younes, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people. The world is watching.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed six LGBT Qataris, including four transgender women, one bisexual woman, and one gay man. Doctor Nasser Mohamed, an openly gay Qatari activist, helped connect Human Rights Watch to five of those interviewed.
All said that Preventive Security Department officers detained them in an underground prison in Al Dafneh, Doha, where they verbally harassed and subjected detainees to physical abuse, ranging from slapping to kicking and punching until they bled. One woman said she lost consciousness. Security officers also inflicted verbal abuse, extracted forced confessions, and denied detainees access to legal counsel, family, and medical care. All six said that police forced them to sign pledges indicating that they would “cease immoral activity.”
All were detained without charge, in one case for two months in solitary confinement, without access to legal counsel. None received any record of having been detained. These acts could constitute arbitrary detention under international human rights law.
The Preventive Security Department is under Qatar’s Interior Ministry.
A transgender Qatari woman said that after security forces arrested her on the street in Doha, Preventive Security officers accused her of “imitating women” because of her gender expression. In the police car, they beat her until her lips and nose were bleeding and kicked her in the stomach, she said. “You gays are immoral, so we will be the same to you,” she said one officer told her.
“I saw many other LGBT people detained there: two Moroccan lesbians, four Filipino gay men, and one Nepalese gay man,” she said. “I was detained for three weeks without charge, and officers repeatedly sexually harassed me. Part of the release requirement was attending sessions with a psychologist who ‘would make me a man again.’”
Another Qatari transgender woman said she was arrested in public by Preventive Security Department forces because she was wearing makeup. “They gave me hand wipes and made me wipe the makeup off my face,” she said. “They used the makeup-stained wipes as evidence against me and took a picture of me with the wipes in my hand. They also shaved my hair.” Security forces made her sign a pledge that she would not wear makeup again as a condition for her release, she said.
A Qatari bisexual woman said: “[Preventive Security officers] beat me until I lost consciousness several times. An officer took me blindfolded by car to another place that felt like a private home from the inside and forced me to watch restrained people getting beaten as an intimidation tactic.”
A Qatari transgender woman, arrested by Preventive Security in public in Doha, said: “They [Preventive Security] are a mafia. They detained me twice, once for two months in a solitary cell underground, and once for six weeks. They beat me every day and shaved my hair. They also made me take off my shirt and took a picture of my breasts. I suffered from depression because of my detention. I still have nightmares to this day, and I’m terrified of being in public.”
In all cases, LGBT detainees said, Preventive Security forces forced them to unlock their phones and took screenshots of private pictures and chats from their devices, as well as contact information of other LGBT people.
A Qatari gay man who has experienced government repression, including arbitrary arrest, said that security forces surveilled and arrested him based on his online activity.
All those interviewed provided strikingly similar accounts. The repressive climate around free expression in Qatar, including around the rights of LGBT people, has made many people who may have experienced mistreatment afraid to be interviewed because of the risk of retaliation, Human Rights Watch said.
Qatar’s Penal Code, under article 285, punishes extramarital sex, including same-sex relations, with up to seven years in prison. None of those interviewed said they faced charges, and it appears their arbitrary arrest and detention is based on Law No 17 of 2002 on Protection of Community, which allows for provisional detention without charge or trial for up to six months, if “there exist well-founded reasons to believe that the defendant may have committed a crime,” including “violating public morality.” Qatari authorities also censor mainstream media reports about sexual orientation and gender identity.
In 2020, Qatar assured prospective visitors that it would welcome LGBT visitors and that fans would be free to fly the rainbow flag at the World Cup football games. Suggestions by officials that Qatar would make an exception to its abusive laws and practices for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights, Human Rights Watch said.
FIFA, the football governing body, which awarded Qatar the World Cup in 2010, adopted in 2016 the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require it to “avoid infringing on the human rights of others and address adverse human rights impacts.” It requires FIFA to take adequate measures for the “prevention, mitigation, and remediation” of human rights impacts.
Qatari security forces should end arrests for adult, consensual sexual relations, including same-sex conduct, or those based on gender expression, and immediately release LGBT people who remain arbitrarily detained, Human Rights Watch said. The Qatari government should put an end to security force ill-treatment against LGBT people, including by halting any government-sponsored programs aimed at conversion practices. Countries sending external security forces to Qatar during the World Cup should ensure they comply with international human rights law and refrain from adding to Qatari security forces’ abuses.
The Qatari authorities should repeal article 285 and all other laws that criminalize consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and introduce legislation that protects against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, online and offline. Freedom of expression and nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be guaranteed, permanently, for all residents of Qatar, not just spectators going to Qatar for the World Cup, Human Rights Watch said.
“Only weeks ahead of the World Cup, LGBT people are raising the alarm on the abuses they have endured by security forces,” Younes said. “The Qatari government should call an immediate halt to this abuse and FIFA should push the Qatari government to ensure long-term reform that protects LGBT people from discrimination and violence.
(Beirut) – Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. LGBT people interviewed said that their mistreatment took place as recently as September 2022, as Qatar prepared to host the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in November and even as the government came under intense scrutiny for its treatment of LGBT people.
Human Rights Watch documented six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022. Security forces arrested people in public places based solely on their gender expression and unlawfully searched their phones. As a requirement for their release, security forces mandated that transgender women detainees attend conversion therapy sessions at a government-sponsored “behavioral healthcare” center.
“While Qatar prepares to host the World Cup, security forces are detaining and abusing LGBT people simply for who they are, apparently confident that the security force abuses will go unreported and unchecked,” said Rasha Younes, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people. The world is watching.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed six LGBT Qataris, including four transgender women, one bisexual woman, and one gay man. Doctor Nasser Mohamed, an openly gay Qatari activist, helped connect Human Rights Watch to five of those interviewed.
All said that Preventive Security Department officers detained them in an underground prison in Al Dafneh, Doha, where they verbally harassed and subjected detainees to physical abuse, ranging from slapping to kicking and punching until they bled. One woman said she lost consciousness. Security officers also inflicted verbal abuse, extracted forced confessions, and denied detainees access to legal counsel, family, and medical care. All six said that police forced them to sign pledges indicating that they would “cease immoral activity.”
All were detained without charge, in one case for two months in solitary confinement, without access to legal counsel. None received any record of having been detained. These acts could constitute arbitrary detention under international human rights law.
The Preventive Security Department is under Qatar’s Interior Ministry.
A transgender Qatari woman said that after security forces arrested her on the street in Doha, Preventive Security officers accused her of “imitating women” because of her gender expression. In the police car, they beat her until her lips and nose were bleeding and kicked her in the stomach, she said. “You gays are immoral, so we will be the same to you,” she said one officer told her.
“I saw many other LGBT people detained there: two Moroccan lesbians, four Filipino gay men, and one Nepalese gay man,” she said. “I was detained for three weeks without charge, and officers repeatedly sexually harassed me. Part of the release requirement was attending sessions with a psychologist who ‘would make me a man again.’”
Another Qatari transgender woman said she was arrested in public by Preventive Security Department forces because she was wearing makeup. “They gave me hand wipes and made me wipe the makeup off my face,” she said. “They used the makeup-stained wipes as evidence against me and took a picture of me with the wipes in my hand. They also shaved my hair.” Security forces made her sign a pledge that she would not wear makeup again as a condition for her release, she said.
A Qatari bisexual woman said: “[Preventive Security officers] beat me until I lost consciousness several times. An officer took me blindfolded by car to another place that felt like a private home from the inside and forced me to watch restrained people getting beaten as an intimidation tactic.”
A Qatari transgender woman, arrested by Preventive Security in public in Doha, said: “They [Preventive Security] are a mafia. They detained me twice, once for two months in a solitary cell underground, and once for six weeks. They beat me every day and shaved my hair. They also made me take off my shirt and took a picture of my breasts. I suffered from depression because of my detention. I still have nightmares to this day, and I’m terrified of being in public.”
In all cases, LGBT detainees said, Preventive Security forces forced them to unlock their phones and took screenshots of private pictures and chats from their devices, as well as contact information of other LGBT people.
A Qatari gay man who has experienced government repression, including arbitrary arrest, said that security forces surveilled and arrested him based on his online activity.
All those interviewed provided strikingly similar accounts. The repressive climate around free expression in Qatar, including around the rights of LGBT people, has made many people who may have experienced mistreatment afraid to be interviewed because of the risk of retaliation, Human Rights Watch said.
Qatar’s Penal Code, under article 285, punishes extramarital sex, including same-sex relations, with up to seven years in prison. None of those interviewed said they faced charges, and it appears their arbitrary arrest and detention is based on Law No 17 of 2002 on Protection of Community, which allows for provisional detention without charge or trial for up to six months, if “there exist well-founded reasons to believe that the defendant may have committed a crime,” including “violating public morality.” Qatari authorities also censor mainstream media reports about sexual orientation and gender identity.
In 2020, Qatar assured prospective visitors that it would welcome LGBT visitors and that fans would be free to fly the rainbow flag at the World Cup football games. Suggestions by officials that Qatar would make an exception to its abusive laws and practices for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights, Human Rights Watch said.
FIFA, the football governing body, which awarded Qatar the World Cup in 2010, adopted in 2016 the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require it to “avoid infringing on the human rights of others and address adverse human rights impacts.” It requires FIFA to take adequate measures for the “prevention, mitigation, and remediation” of human rights impacts.
Qatari security forces should end arrests for adult, consensual sexual relations, including same-sex conduct, or those based on gender expression, and immediately release LGBT people who remain arbitrarily detained, Human Rights Watch said. The Qatari government should put an end to security force ill-treatment against LGBT people, including by halting any government-sponsored programs aimed at conversion practices. Countries sending external security forces to Qatar during the World Cup should ensure they comply with international human rights law and refrain from adding to Qatari security forces’ abuses.
The Qatari authorities should repeal article 285 and all other laws that criminalize consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and introduce legislation that protects against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, online and offline. Freedom of expression and nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be guaranteed, permanently, for all residents of Qatar, not just spectators going to Qatar for the World Cup, Human Rights Watch said.
“Only weeks ahead of the World Cup, LGBT people are raising the alarm on the abuses they have endured by security forces,” Younes said. “The Qatari government should call an immediate halt to this abuse and FIFA should push the Qatari government to ensure long-term reform that protects LGBT people from discrimination and violence.
James Cleverly under fire for urging LGBT fans to 'respect' Qatar during the World Cup
Wednesday 26 October 2022
"Flexibility and compromise": Vincent McAviney explains why the foreign secretary is under fire for his comments
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has come under fire for suggesting that LGBT football fans heading to the World Cup in Qatar should be "respectful of the host nation".
It came after veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he was arrested after staging an LGBT protest in the country to highlight human rights abuses in the run-up to the major event.
The status of LGBT attendees and players at the World Cup in Qatar has been a point of contention for international football fans in recent months.
ITV Correspondent Libby Wiener says James Cleverly has 'put his foot in it'
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and Muslims can face the death penalty if prosecuted for it.
Mr Cleverly urged fans to show "a little bit of flex and compromise" and to "respect the culture of your host nation", before Downing Street distanced itself from his comments.
But Mr Tatchell hit back at the remarks, saying the Foreign Secretary should instead "highlight the abuses being carried out by the regime".
LGBT+ people in Qatar 'arrested and beaten in police custody'
Denmark to protest Qatar's human rights record at World Cup with faded shirts
Going to the World Cup, as Mr Cleverly has said he will, is "colluding with a homophobic, sexist and racist regime", the activist said.
Critics also described the Cabinet minister’s comments as "abhorrent" and "shockingly tone deaf".
Mr Cleverly told LBC radio: "I have spoken to the Qatari authorities in the past about gay football fans going to watch the World Cup and how they will treat our fans and international fans
.
Qatar has come under fire for its treatment of LGBT people.
Credit: PA
"They want to make sure that football fans are safe, secure and enjoy themselves, and they know that that means they are going to have to make some compromises in terms of what is an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.
"One of the things I would say for football fans is, you know, please do be respectful of the host nation.
“They are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football, and I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup."
Qatar has insisted LGBT attendees will not face sanctions and stated it wants everyone to feel welcome and secure, but has also asked for people to be respectful of the state's culture.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesman rejected Mr Cleverly's wording, suggesting people should not have to "compromise who they are".
He added: "Qatar’s policies are not those of the UK Government and not ones we would endorse."
Mr Cleverly took a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer after the Labour leader said he would not attend the World Cup, even if England reach the final, due to Qatar’s human rights record.
"As the leader of the Opposition, he’s in a lovely position to send messages. I’ve got real work to do,” said Mr Cleverly.
Opposition parties also criticised the cabinet minister’s comments, with SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald tweeting: "Foreign Secretary seems in essence to be advising people travelling to the World Cup in Qatar to show some respect and not be gay. This is abhorrent."
Labour’s shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said: "This is shockingly tone deaf from James Cleverly. Sport should be open to all. Many fans will feel they can’t attend this tournament to cheer on their team because of Qatar’s record on human, workers, and LGBT+ rights."
In a video released on Tuesday, Mr Tatchell claimed he was "subjected to interrogation" while detained for 49 minutes after carrying out the demonstration outside the national museum in Doha.
He was later released by Qatari police and flew to Sydney, Australia.
"They want to make sure that football fans are safe, secure and enjoy themselves, and they know that that means they are going to have to make some compromises in terms of what is an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.
"One of the things I would say for football fans is, you know, please do be respectful of the host nation.
“They are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football, and I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup."
Qatar has insisted LGBT attendees will not face sanctions and stated it wants everyone to feel welcome and secure, but has also asked for people to be respectful of the state's culture.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesman rejected Mr Cleverly's wording, suggesting people should not have to "compromise who they are".
He added: "Qatar’s policies are not those of the UK Government and not ones we would endorse."
Mr Cleverly took a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer after the Labour leader said he would not attend the World Cup, even if England reach the final, due to Qatar’s human rights record.
"As the leader of the Opposition, he’s in a lovely position to send messages. I’ve got real work to do,” said Mr Cleverly.
Opposition parties also criticised the cabinet minister’s comments, with SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald tweeting: "Foreign Secretary seems in essence to be advising people travelling to the World Cup in Qatar to show some respect and not be gay. This is abhorrent."
Labour’s shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said: "This is shockingly tone deaf from James Cleverly. Sport should be open to all. Many fans will feel they can’t attend this tournament to cheer on their team because of Qatar’s record on human, workers, and LGBT+ rights."
In a video released on Tuesday, Mr Tatchell claimed he was "subjected to interrogation" while detained for 49 minutes after carrying out the demonstration outside the national museum in Doha.
He was later released by Qatari police and flew to Sydney, Australia.
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