| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch 19:12 - Oct 24 with 10865 views | KeithHaynes |
Beirut) — Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. LGBT people interviewed said that their mistreatment took place as recently as September 2022, as Qatar prepared to host the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in November and even as the government came under intense scrutiny for its treatment of LGBT people.
Human Rights Watch documented six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022. Security forces arrested people in public places based solely on their gender expression and unlawfully searched their phones. As a requirement for their release, security forces mandated that transgender women detainees attend conversion therapy sessions at a government-sponsored “behavioral healthcare” center.
“While Qatar prepares to host the World Cup, security forces are detaining and abusing LGBT people simply for who they are, apparently confident that the security force abuses will go unreported and unchecked,” said Rasha Younes, LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Qatari authorities need to end impunity for violence against LGBT people. The world is watching.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed six LGBT Qataris, including four transgender women, one bisexual woman, and one gay man. Doctor Nasser Mohamed, an openly gay Qatari activist, helped connect Human Rights Watch to five of those interviewed.
All said that Preventive Security Department officers detained them in an underground prison in Al Dafneh, Doha, where they verbally harassed and subjected detainees to physical abuse, ranging from slapping to kicking and punching until they bled. One woman said she lost consciousness. Security officers also inflicted verbal abuse, extracted forced confessions, and denied detainees access to legal counsel, family, and medical care. All six said that police forced them to sign pledges indicating that they would “cease immoral activity.”
All were detained without charge, in one case for two months in solitary confinement, without access to legal counsel. None received any record of having been detained. These acts could constitute arbitrary detention under international human rights law.
The Preventive Security Department is under Qatar’s Interior Ministry.
A transgender Qatari woman said that after security forces arrested her on the street in Doha, Preventive Security officers accused her of “imitating women” because of her gender expression. In the police car, they beat her until her lips and nose were bleeding and kicked her in the stomach, she said. “You gays are immoral, so we will be the same to you,” she said one officer told her.
“I saw many other LGBT people detained there: two Moroccan lesbians, four Filipino gay men, and one Nepalese gay man,” she said. “I was detained for three weeks without charge, and officers repeatedly sexually harassed me. Part of the release requirement was attending sessions with a psychologist who ‘would make me a man again.’”
Another Qatari transgender woman said she was arrested in public by Preventive Security Department forces because she was wearing makeup. “They gave me hand wipes and made me wipe the makeup off my face,” she said. “They used the makeup-stained wipes as evidence against me and took a picture of me with the wipes in my hand. They also shaved my hair.” Security forces made her sign a pledge that she would not wear makeup again as a condition for her release, she said.
A Qatari bisexual woman said: “[Preventive Security officers] beat me until I lost consciousness several times. An officer took me blindfolded by car to another place that felt like a private home from the inside and forced me to watch restrained people getting beaten as an intimidation tactic.”
A Qatari transgender woman, arrested by Preventive Security in public in Doha, said: “They [Preventive Security] are a mafia. They detained me twice, once for two months in a solitary cell underground, and once for six weeks. They beat me every day and shaved my hair. They also made me take off my shirt and took a picture of my breasts. I suffered from depression because of my detention. I still have nightmares to this day, and I’m terrified of being in public.”
In all cases, LGBT detainees said, Preventive Security forces forced them to unlock their phones and took screenshots of private pictures and chats from their devices, as well as contact information of other LGBT people.
A Qatari gay man who has experienced government repression, including arbitrary arrest, said that security forces surveilled and arrested him based on his online activity.
All those interviewed provided strikingly similar accounts. The repressive climate around free expression in Qatar, including around the rights of LGBT people, has made many people who may have experienced mistreatment afraid to be interviewed because of the risk of retaliation, Human Rights Watch said.
Qatar’s Penal Code, under article 285, punishes extramarital sex, including same-sex relations, with up to seven years in prison. None of those interviewed said they faced charges, and it appears their arbitrary arrest and detention is based on Law No 17 of 2002 on Protection of Community, which allows for provisional detention without charge or trial for up to six months, if “there exist well-founded reasons to believe that the defendant may have committed a crime,” including “violating public morality.” Qatari authorities also censor mainstream media reports about sexual orientation and gender identity.
In 2020, Qatar assured prospective visitors that it would welcome LGBT visitors and that fans would be free to fly the rainbow flag at the World Cup football games. Suggestions by officials that Qatar would make an exception to its abusive laws and practices for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights, Human Rights Watch said.
FIFA, the football governing body, which awarded Qatar the World Cup in 2010, adopted in 2016 the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require it to “avoid infringing on the human rights of others and address adverse human rights impacts.” It requires FIFA to take adequate measures for the “prevention, mitigation, and remediation” of human rights impacts.
Qatari security forces should end arrests for adult, consensual sexual relations, including same-sex conduct, or those based on gender expression, and immediately release LGBT people who remain arbitrarily detained, Human Rights Watch said. The Qatari government should put an end to security force ill-treatment against LGBT people, including by halting any government-sponsored programs aimed at conversion practices. Countries sending external security forces to Qatar during the World Cup should ensure they comply with international human rights law and refrain from adding to Qatari security forces’ abuses.
The Qatari authorities should repeal article 285 and all other laws that criminalize consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and introduce legislation that protects against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, online and offline. Freedom of expression and nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be guaranteed, permanently, for all residents of Qatar, not just spectators going to Qatar for the World Cup, Human Rights Watch said.
“Only weeks ahead of the World Cup, LGBT people are raising the alarm on the abuses they have endured by security forces,” Younes said. “The Qatari government should call an immediate halt to this abuse and FIFA should push the Qatari government to ensure long-term reform that protects LGBT people from discrimination and violence."
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 16:27 - Oct 27 with 2099 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:23 - Oct 27 by trampie |
I can because I have standards, our establishment can't because they only have standards when it suits them. |
You have standards for sure . |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 18:15 - Oct 27 with 2054 views | Boundy |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 16:27 - Oct 27 by onehunglow |
You have standards for sure . |
The lowest standards you display are the highest you should expect from others | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 18:17 - Oct 27 with 2050 views | felixstowe_jack |
Anyone visiting most Muslim Countries know they won't be able to drink alcohol, eat pork, will have to dress modestly, know that sex between same sex couple is illegal. It is also illegal in a lot of countries for single unmarried women to have sex and public sex acts are also legal. Either you abide by their laws or Don't visit. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 18:47 - Oct 27 with 2021 views | trampie |
When in Rome ....... |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 23:04 - Oct 28 with 1842 views | BryanSwan |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:10 - Oct 27 by Togg |
Okay fair answer, so politics and sport should never mix.
Israel is a democratic country, which is surrounded by countries who want to wipe them off the map. The Jews historically have probably been the most persecuted people ever. There is a lot about Israel I don't personally like the land grabs for example.
Should they be banned, no and I've never mentioned Qatar not being able to hold the World Cup...just saying I would have preferred it to have been in Europe somewhere. |
It does really does beg the question of where the line is drawn.Israel have committed atrocities and are fine to play sporting events freely.
People are asking for Iran to be banned for their treatment of women. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:34 - Oct 29 with 1785 views | KeithHaynes |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 23:04 - Oct 28 by BryanSwan |
It does really does beg the question of where the line is drawn.Israel have committed atrocities and are fine to play sporting events freely.
People are asking for Iran to be banned for their treatment of women. |
And for funding some form of support for Russia in Ukraine.
But as has been said the USA are no different. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:48 - Oct 29 with 1778 views | Catullus |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:34 - Oct 29 by KeithHaynes |
And for funding some form of support for Russia in Ukraine.
But as has been said the USA are no different. |
It always comes bak to politicians, they ruin our lives!
On a seperate LGBT issue, Question of sport had a "pride" special recently, it annoyed me, the longer we keep treating people like they are different the longer we will have problems. It's QOS for pete's sake, have people on because they are good at their sport, it shouldn't matter what their sexuality is, nrt what religion or colour they are. We are all HUMAN beings. We should try acting like that. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 12:48 - Oct 29 with 1753 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:48 - Oct 29 by Catullus |
It always comes bak to politicians, they ruin our lives!
On a seperate LGBT issue, Question of sport had a "pride" special recently, it annoyed me, the longer we keep treating people like they are different the longer we will have problems. It's QOS for pete's sake, have people on because they are good at their sport, it shouldn't matter what their sexuality is, nrt what religion or colour they are. We are all HUMAN beings. We should try acting like that. |
We do act like human beings. That’s why there’s so much war, violence and suffering in the world. |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 16:26 - Oct 29 with 1714 views | KeithHaynes |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 12:48 - Oct 29 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
We do act like human beings. That’s why there’s so much war, violence and suffering in the world. |
This | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 12:29 - Oct 30 with 1636 views | Catullus |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 10:14 - Oct 27 by trampie |
We was jailing people for been homosexuals, jailing people without trial, chucking people out of flying helicopters, eliminating people that were a danger to the state when officially we had no death penalty and all in my lifetime.
We or at least our friends the other side of the Dyke have no right to lecture people around the World what is right and what is wrong. |
But it appears that you think you have that right.
Tell me then, which country does have that right? Belgium, The Netehrlands, Germany, Chile, Brazil, can you name a country that is without guilt? | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:36 - Oct 30 with 1616 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 12:29 - Oct 30 by Catullus |
But it appears that you think you have that right.
Tell me then, which country does have that right? Belgium, The Netehrlands, Germany, Chile, Brazil, can you name a country that is without guilt? |
Little could beat Welsh non conformism for sheer racism and homophobia.
Many of us were raised on it . | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:18 - Oct 30 with 1600 views | Catullus |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 12:48 - Oct 29 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
We do act like human beings. That’s why there’s so much war, violence and suffering in the world. |
We're supposed to have evolved though, we are supposed to be of higher intelligence, what a pile of manure that is. Specially for politicians.
Better educated maybe but intelligent? | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:19 - Oct 30 with 1581 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:18 - Oct 30 by Catullus |
We're supposed to have evolved though, we are supposed to be of higher intelligence, what a pile of manure that is. Specially for politicians.
Better educated maybe but intelligent? |
We are flesh and blood and have base instincts
That means ,at heart,we never really change | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 10:18 - Oct 31 with 1535 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:18 - Oct 30 by Catullus |
We're supposed to have evolved though, we are supposed to be of higher intelligence, what a pile of manure that is. Specially for politicians.
Better educated maybe but intelligent? |
Every species on the planet fights over territory or food or resources or something to shag. We are no different. If a rival lion trespasses on another lions pride they will often fight with their claws and their teeth to the death. Again we are no different. But with the higher intelligence you mention we no longer fight with our fists and pointy sticks. We fight with guns and bombs and cruise missiles and drones and AC-130’s and apache copters and ICBM’s and all manner of other killing machines.
I doubt there’s any species in the history of the world who routinely kills their own kind in the numbers we do. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 18:22 - Nov 4 with 1344 views | felixstowe_jack |
I see unite Union is calling for a strike at Heathrow during the World Cup. Bad new for anyone flying to Qatar. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:23 - Nov 5 with 1288 views | Catullus |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 10:18 - Oct 31 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Every species on the planet fights over territory or food or resources or something to shag. We are no different. If a rival lion trespasses on another lions pride they will often fight with their claws and their teeth to the death. Again we are no different. But with the higher intelligence you mention we no longer fight with our fists and pointy sticks. We fight with guns and bombs and cruise missiles and drones and AC-130’s and apache copters and ICBM’s and all manner of other killing machines.
I doubt there’s any species in the history of the world who routinely kills their own kind in the numbers we do. |
Yeah I know which merely supports my idea that we are not that intelligent.
Other species kill each other for food, they guard their own territory to protect their food supply and their young. We don't have to do any of that, in fact for food and energy we rely on others of our species from other territories.
Other species don't routinely wipe each other out but humanity has stood on that brink for a long time now. Most other animals only kill until they have enough food, to protect territory they will drive other animals off and only kill thm if they have too.
Humanity kills because it can, sometimes just for fun. Very few species kill for fun and we do it very efficiently. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 08:46 - Nov 8 with 1133 views | Scotia |
I know Bredog have their own issues and this is good marketing for them but i'm with them all the way.
Mines a Lost Lager for the Wales games.
https://www.brewdog.com/uk/ant [Post edited 8 Nov 2022 11:24]
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:30 - Nov 8 with 1113 views | lifelong |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:36 - Oct 30 by onehunglow |
Little could beat Welsh non conformism for sheer racism and homophobia.
Many of us were raised on it . |
The Church of England was no different. As I understand it, they still do not permit same sex marriages, they do, however, permit gay ministers provided they are celibate. |  | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:10 - Nov 8 with 1096 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:30 - Nov 8 by lifelong |
The Church of England was no different. As I understand it, they still do not permit same sex marriages, they do, however, permit gay ministers provided they are celibate. |
Agree with you there . | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 07:21 - Nov 9 with 1016 views | trampie |
When England held the football World Cup homosexuality was illegal in England, so why was the English allowed to host the World Cup that year ?, should teams have boycotted the finals ?, people in England have a cheek saying Qatar should not host the World cup because of their laws on homosexuality.
Same old England. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:05 - Nov 9 with 992 views | union_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 07:21 - Nov 9 by trampie |
When England held the football World Cup homosexuality was illegal in England, so why was the English allowed to host the World Cup that year ?, should teams have boycotted the finals ?, people in England have a cheek saying Qatar should not host the World cup because of their laws on homosexuality.
Same old England. |
Give it a bloody rest will you. That chip keeps on growing! |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:22 - Nov 9 with 979 views | trampie |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:05 - Nov 9 by union_jack |
Give it a bloody rest will you. That chip keeps on growing! |
Just calling a spade a spade, those the other side of the dyke have had ridiculous laws both in the past and in the present that they force on us here in Cymru.
They have a tendency the other side of the Dyke to try and tell the rest of the world how to live, yet their treatment of women, homosexuals, people in the so called colonies etc was shocking, do they have any self awareness. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:41 - Nov 9 with 933 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:30 - Nov 8 by lifelong |
The Church of England was no different. As I understand it, they still do not permit same sex marriages, they do, however, permit gay ministers provided they are celibate. |
Neither is edifying but anyone thinking Welsh were not racist in religion is kidding themselves
We sent missionaries to the Dark Continent to convertvthecSavages / Black Natives
It’s a fact many Welsh Sunday School teachers we’re firmer missionaries from Nigeria to the Congo
In sport,the black Cardiff great rugby players ALL went north because of racist WRU. Check out what Billy Boston,Clive Sullivan,etc said about the welsh attitude to colour in sport | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:44 - Nov 9 with 927 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 07:21 - Nov 9 by trampie |
When England held the football World Cup homosexuality was illegal in England, so why was the English allowed to host the World Cup that year ?, should teams have boycotted the finals ?, people in England have a cheek saying Qatar should not host the World cup because of their laws on homosexuality.
Same old England. |
It was illegal in Wales too and carried more hatred.
Same attitude towards children born out of wedlock that saw chins wagging on every a welsh valley doorstep. | |
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