Mohammed, Rafiq, Azhar.

All are Qatari citizens and homosexuals.

Their testimonies, collected by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the English media Daily Mail say the fear of being exposed in a country where sexual relations between people of the same sex are punishable by seven years in prison. 

As Qatar prepares to host the Fifa World Cup in November 2022, the NGO HRW warns of the surveillance and repression of LGBT people.

Arrested in 2014 for suspected homosexual behavior, Mohammed fears going back to prison. While in detention, officers searched his phone and identified a man with whom he had exchanged romantic messages. They tried to contact this person to target him as well, the Qatari told HRW. He remembers being detained for weeks, suffering verbal abuse and sexual harassment from the police. The officers even shaved his head.

Other testimonies collected by the Daily Mail in early October point in the same direction.

Rafiq, 37, says he has considered suicide on several occasions, constantly fearing that his double life will be discovered.

He reports that friends were detained in Doha for a month because they looked "too feminine or appeared to be gay".

The police also shaved their heads.

"The police do not shave the heads of other prisoners, only the heads of gays", denounces Rafiq.

Forbidden to seduce another man

In Qatar, sexual relations between men are punishable by penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment.

But the law goes even further, denounces HRW, because the only "seduction" in order to commit an act of "sodomy" is also punishable by three years in prison.

More broadly, any allusion to LGBT is banned from the Qatari media, under a law which considers them to be "an attack on morals". Thus in 2018, the international edition of the New York Times in its version circulated by Dar al-Sharq, a Qatari partner, found itself dispossessed of several articles addressing LGBT subjects. As a result, the newspaper appeared with blank pages instead of an article on a murderous shooting against a gay bar in the United States or a paper about Elton John, a fervent defender of LGBT and critic of the organization of the World Cup in Qatar.

Want to know about the importance of LGBT rights during the 2018 World Cup.

Well, if you live in Qatar you aren't allowed to ...



How @MinkysHighjinks' oped appeared in the Qatar edition of the New York Times: pic.twitter.com/Wpm3xrFLZ6

- Philippa H Stewart (@Flip_Stewart) May 31, 2018

The British singer is not the only one.

With the approach of this great sporting event, other personalities were concerned about the holding of a World Cup in a country which criminalizes homosexuals. 

Qatar assures LGBT people will be "safe" at World

"I would be afraid to play in Qatar," said in November Australian Josh Cavallo, the only professional footballer in the world to have publicly revealed his homosexuality.

To which the director general of the Qatari World Cup organizing committee replied that "everyone would be welcome here and everyone will feel safe". 

"Qatar is a tolerant country, a warm, welcoming country," Nasser al-Khater added in an interview with CNN broadcast on November 30.

"Qatar remains conservative in terms of showing affection in public. We ask fans to respect different cultures, as we do ourselves," he said. 

Another promise made by the Qatari organizing committee to Fifa, the assurance that posters and symbols promoting LGBT rights will be authorized.

"When it comes to rainbow flags in stadiums, Fifa has its own guidelines, it has its rules and regulations," Nasser al-Khater told The Associated Press.

"Whatever they are, we will respect them." 

For its part, Fifa guarantees that each event it organizes is indeed "inclusive".

"People must be free to display any type of flag they want, without being targeted or discriminated against, including the rainbow flag," its secretary general, Fatma Samoura, recalled on December 21.   

Rainbow toys prohibited

However, that same day, an announcement from the Qatari authorities sowed doubt.

Qatar has embarked on a major campaign to seize toys "contrary to Islamic values".

Hear children's toys in the colors of the rainbow flag, reminiscent of the symbol of the defense of LGBT rights. 

"Inspection campaigns carried out in stores in different parts of Qatar have resulted in the seizure of children's toys bearing slogans contrary to Islamic values," the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced on Twitter, which urged "citizens and residents to report any merchandise bearing logos or designs contrary to traditions".

Without giving further details, the ministry released a photo showing the famous rainbow-colored rubber anti-stress bubble toys. 

نفذت وزارة # التجارة_والصناعة حملات تفتيشية على عدد من المحال التجارية في مناطق مختلفة بالدولة, وأسفرت الحملات عن ضبط وتحرير عددا من المخالفات, تمثلت في لعب أطفال تحمل شعارات مخلة بالقيم الإسلامية والعادات والتقاليد. # قطر pic.twitter.com/4JpwpMpR9v

- وزارة التجارة والصناعة (@MOCIQatar) December 20, 2021

In a little less than a year, all the cameras in the world will be on Qatar for the World Cup.

The war of communication around the rainbow flag is well and truly launched, and Doha knows the strength of the symbol.

This is evidenced by the position taken by Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton last month.

🥰 pic.twitter.com/YXpr13Wvpa

- Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@ MercedesAMGF1) November 19, 2021

During the Formula 1 Grand Prix which was held for the first time in Qatar on November 21, the British driver sported a multicolored helmet, to send a message of solidarity to the LGBT community.

"Love is love", he had written above and "We stand together" ("We fight together").

With AFP

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