Everyone who visits the World Cup in Qatar should be able to feel safe, World Cup director Hassan al-Thawadi told the BBC.
-We will ensure that everyone is safe.
But just hours later, Abdulaziz Abdullah al-Ansari, chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Interior Ministry in Qatar and head of the Ministry of International Cooperation, said that one could not guarantee that people would not attack people waving a rainbow flag, for example.
He therefore opens for the flags to be seized.
"To protect"
- If someone waves a rainbow flag and I take it, it is not because I want to insult but to protect.
Because if I do not do it, someone can attack, he says to AP and continues:
- I can not guarantee the behavior of the entire population.
Hassan al-Thawadi has said that everyone is welcome in Qatar, and that the country's event of the World Cup is not so-called sportswashing, a term that refers to how strict regimes use, for example, sporting events to manipulate the perception of the country and wash away focus from inadequate human rights.
Al-Ansari also insists that homosexuals are welcome in Qatar, and that same-sex couples visiting the World Cup are allowed to stay together in hotels, but advises against demonstrating for LGBTQIA + rights.
- If you want to show your view of the situation (for LGBTQIA + people), do it in a society where it is accepted, he says.
"Do not insult"
This is in stark contrast to the picture Fifa painted.
In 2020, for example, Joyce Cook, head of Fifa's work on social responsibility and education, said that rainbow flags and t-shirts would be allowed.
- It is obvious.
They absolutely understand our position.
But al-Ansari does not think it is the right place to take a stand for LGBTQIA + people.
- Check out the matches, it's good.
But do not come in and insult the whole society because of this.
al-Ansari further says that it is not reasonable to change the country's laws against homosexuality for a tournament.