Homosexuality is prohibited by Qatari law, and can lead to seven years in prison.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Association who attracted worldwide attention when she criticized World Cup hosts Qatar during the Fifa congress last spring, has suggested that the teams should be put on hiatus during the World Cup.
But when Nas Mohammed, the US-based doctor who is the first publicly known man to come out as gay, hears about the proposal, he is not at all impressed.
- If you go to a dinner party and know that the parents are abusing the children, do you go there and demand that the children not be abused during that evening?
No, you say that the children should not be beaten at all, he says.
So you don't support the Norwegian proposal?
- No, should it apply for 28 days?
And then?
Is it ok to harass us after 28 days?
What happens to us in Qatar after we have not been harassed for 28 days?
No, it should never be okay!
Not this year, not next year, never!
- That should be how you handle human rights.
We must defend them, not negotiate!