Qatar arrests foreign activist & local LGBTQ people one month away from World Cup

Peter Tatchell in 2016.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

With one month left until Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, police in the country’s capital city of Doha recently questioned longtime activist Peter Tatchell while he protested the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws.

Tatchell said officers arrested and detained him, but the police are denying his claims. The incident highlights continuing tensions over the country’s anti-LGBTQ policies.

Tatchell stood outside of the country’s National Museum for 35 minutes while holding a sign which read, “Qatar arrests, jails, and subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’ #QatarAntiGay.”

“The first carload of security officials arrived in an unmarked Land Rover and started taking photographs,” Tatchell told The Guardian. “Then, about five minutes later a police car arrived. The police came over and took away the placard and began to interrogate me.”

When Tatchell’s companion began recording the officers, they then allegedly confiscated his phone and deleted the images. Overall, the police “arrested and detained” them on the roadside for 49 minutes, Tatchell said. The men were released without charges.

“The police were not abusive or threatening,” Tatchell said, “but they did make it clear that we should go to the airport and leave the country.”

A Qatar government communications office spokesperson called Tatchell’s version of events…

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