LGBTQ Qataris arrested and abused ahead of FIFA World Cup, report claims
“Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people,” HRW's Rasha Younes said. “The world is watching.”
Ever since the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup was announced in Qatar, there has been increasing worries over hosting the massively popular football competition in a country where it remains illegal, and potentially deadly, to be gay.
Those fears have validity according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) with, as stated in the HRW’s report, “six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody,” the most recent case being this September.
According to six LGBT Qataris interviewed by HRW, the Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have “arbitrarily arrested” and subjected LGBTQ+ people to “ill-treatment in detention” including unlawfully searched their phones and verbal and physical abuse.
Qatar authorities issued a statement saying that the allegations made by HRW “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false.”
They added: “Qatar does not tolerate discrimination against anyone, and our policies and procedures are underpinned by a commitment to human rights for all.”
One Qatari transgender woman who was arrested described the country’s Preventive Security Department as “a mafia.”
She details she was detained in an underground solitary cell for two months: “They beat me every day and shaved my hair… I still have nightmares to this day, and I’m terrified of being in public.”
One woman says she lost consciousness after being physically beaten by security officers who denied detainees access to legal counsel, family, and medical care, forcing them “to sign pledges indicating that they would ‘cease immoral activity.’”
All six of these LBGTQ+ individuals were detained without charge and none received any record of having been detained – HRW suggests this constitutes “arbitrary detention under international human rights law.”
“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 HRW.
“Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people,” Younes added. “The world is watching.”
In 2020, Qatar told prospective visitors that LGBTQ+ fans would be free to visit the country for the World Cup games, making an exception for the abusive laws and practices that are in place.
HRW claims this is an “implicit reminder” Qatari authorities do not believe its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights.
World Cup organisers have previously stated that everyone is welcome but in the same breath warned against public displays of affection.
Earlier this year, 16 LGBTQ organisations signed an open latter that the measures to protect the LGBTQ community for the World Cup in Qatar aren’t adequate.
Such thought was shared by Josh Cavallo who revealed he would be “scared” to play at the World Cup.
“To know that this is in a country that doesn’t support gay people and puts us at risk of our own life, that does scare me and makes me re-evaluate – is my life more important than doing something really good in my career?” he shared.
The World Cup takes place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.