• In Qatar, which is due to host the World Cup in November, homosexuality is illegal and relationships outside marriage are subject to imprisonment.

  • Several Internet users indicate that a homophobic poster has been deployed in the country.

  • The panel with the homophobic message was posted by a religious association in the middle of the street in Bahrain.

A homophobic poster deployed in the middle of the street.

Here is the image that is currently relayed on Facebook and Twitter.

We see the rainbow flag crossed out in a cross.

Below, silhouettes representing two adults, a man and a woman, and two children take shelter under an umbrella.

On the umbrella, we can read the expression "Islamic law".

“Qatar is starting to put up anti-LGBT billboards in cities,” is the caption to this image.

The caption is named after the Facebook Insta Video page, which has over 666,000 followers.

The erroneous legend has also circulated in English on other sites.

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Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, which is due to host the World Cup in November.

The NGO Human Rights Watch reported last November the story of a man arrested for "alleged homosexual behavior".

However, this sign with a homophobic message was displayed in the town of Riffa, located in Bahrain, another Gulf country.

We tracked down this image through a reverse image search.

One of the results of this search linked to the Reddit forum, where a user indicated that the image was taken in this country.

This Internet user was referring to a Twitter user, who also indicated that the image was taken in Bahrain.

Finally, in replies to this tweet, an anonymous account confirmed that the image was indeed taken in the country, posting another photo of the billboard and specifying where the photo was taken.

By doing a search in Google maps using the coordinates provided by this Internet user, we see that the panel has indeed been installed in Riffa, in front of the premises of a religious association.

The buildings visible in the background are the same as those visible in the photo that is relayed on social networks.

This association had also posted the homophobic poster on its Twitter account on June 12, as noted by our colleagues from Misbar.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Bahrain.

However, the Foreign Office urges LGBTQIA+ people to be vigilant in the kingdom, noting that "alleged homosexual acts have been prosecuted for 'indecency' and 'immorality'" and that the country " occasionally experiences bouts of homophobia.

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  • World

  • Bahrain

  • Homophobia

  • Qatar

  • World Cup 2022

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