Enlarge image
Photo: IMAGO/Sidhik Keerantakath/ IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch warns homosexuals against traveling to the World Cup in Qatar.
There is "a great risk" that showing same-sex love "will be punished," said Wenzel Michalski, director of Human Rights Watch Germany at Sky: "No matter what assurances there are.
Qatar is not a rule of law.
You can't complain about that.«
Homosexuality is a punishable offense in the emirate.
However, Prime Minister Sheikh Chalid bin Chalifa Al-Thani recently issued a “security guarantee” for people in the LGBT community to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
Nevertheless, he would advise all homosexuals to be “very careful”, says Michalsky: “Not only in public and on the street, but also when it comes to online.
The Qatari government reads WhatsApp if they want to.”
"An absolute failure of Fifa"
Nobody should hope for the protection of the world association Fifa or local politicians.
"You can see cowardice there," said the director of Human Rights Watch: "As a football fan, you can't count on being protected if you come into danger there." Possible measures by Qatar are "tough" and would range from caning to jail time.
Michalsky emphasized that he recognized "an absolute failure of Fifa" in Qatar.
The world association should actually “go public, distance itself and put pressure on”.
However, this has not happened to a sufficient extent so far.
Official World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman recently described homosexuality as "mental damage".
Qatar is considered one of the most controversial hosts in World Cup history.
The emirate is accused of, among other things, violations of human rights, poor treatment of stadium construction workers and a lack of women's rights.
Just a few days ago, Human Rights Watch accused the police in Qatar of arresting and abusing queer people.
ara/sid
