| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch 19:12 - Oct 24 with 10866 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 00:58 - Nov 17 with 1687 views | Robbie |
Reading some online reports, not been fact checked though , seems Drakeford and his hangers on have decided to travel to the event and wave the Welsh Flag , for business reasons of course .
Looks like Sir Kier Starmer turned down the invite to attend , good on him .
Really got a mixed opinion on this choice of venue , something wrong here . |  | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:19 - Nov 17 with 1663 views | controversial_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 00:58 - Nov 17 by Robbie |
Reading some online reports, not been fact checked though , seems Drakeford and his hangers on have decided to travel to the event and wave the Welsh Flag , for business reasons of course .
Looks like Sir Kier Starmer turned down the invite to attend , good on him .
Really got a mixed opinion on this choice of venue , something wrong here . |
Is it any worse than the USA or South Africa, both have held the event | | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:38 - Nov 17 with 1658 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:19 - Nov 17 by controversial_jack |
Is it any worse than the USA or South Africa, both have held the event |
If you can’t see the difference then … | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:18 - Nov 17 with 1641 views | controversial_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:38 - Nov 17 by onehunglow |
If you can’t see the difference then … |
I would say S Africa in particular is far worse, and the US hasn't a good record for human rights either | | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 15:10 - Nov 17 with 1629 views | KeithHaynes |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 00:58 - Nov 17 by Robbie |
Reading some online reports, not been fact checked though , seems Drakeford and his hangers on have decided to travel to the event and wave the Welsh Flag , for business reasons of course .
Looks like Sir Kier Starmer turned down the invite to attend , good on him .
Really got a mixed opinion on this choice of venue , something wrong here . |
We have a disclosure request in to the Sennyd requesting who is going and their roles. Plus costs. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 16:41 - Nov 18 with 1562 views | howenjack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 15:10 - Nov 17 by KeithHaynes |
We have a disclosure request in to the Sennyd requesting who is going and their roles. Plus costs. |
Well they won't get a drink any where near the stadium or in it - Just heard that beer is banned from today in and around the stadia . | | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:41 - Nov 18 with 1548 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:18 - Nov 17 by controversial_jack |
I would say S Africa in particular is far worse, and the US hasn't a good record for human rights either |
I would say you are very misguided
Apartheid South Africa under Mr Verwoerd ,yes. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 22:49 - Nov 18 with 1527 views | builthjack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 15:10 - Nov 17 by KeithHaynes |
We have a disclosure request in to the Sennyd requesting who is going and their roles. Plus costs. |
I wonder how much Alan Cairns, the Tory MP in South Wales, got for going over there. |  |
| Swansea Indepenent Poster Of The Year 2021. Dr P / Mart66 / Roathie / Parlay / E20/ Duffle was 2nd, but he is deluded and thinks in his little twisted brain that he won. Poor sod. We let him win this year, as he has cried for a whole year. His 14 usernames, bless his cotton socks.
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:30 - Nov 19 with 1472 views | ReslovenSwan1 |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 22:49 - Nov 18 by builthjack |
I wonder how much Alan Cairns, the Tory MP in South Wales, got for going over there. |
Drakeford is a serious man who knows his responsibilities. He has first to recognise the Qataris are close v business partners for Welsh people. Wales hosts one of the biggest LNG terminal in the World.
It is not small potatoes. There will be no wild partying on an expense account. Strictly business. Lots of jobs are at stake.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qata [Post edited 19 Nov 2022 17:31]
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 19:00 - Nov 19 with 1453 views | Jack123 |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 17:30 - Nov 19 by ReslovenSwan1 |
Drakeford is a serious man who knows his responsibilities. He has first to recognise the Qataris are close v business partners for Welsh people. Wales hosts one of the biggest LNG terminal in the World.
It is not small potatoes. There will be no wild partying on an expense account. Strictly business. Lots of jobs are at stake.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/qata [Post edited 19 Nov 2022 17:31]
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He would be the last person on earth, I would want representing Wales.
He can be as serious as he likes, he's an absolute plank. |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 22:10 - Nov 20 with 1315 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
Lineker trying to justify his presence in Qatar whilst moralising was so incongruous today it was actually quite funny. |  |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:21 - Nov 21 with 1269 views | felixstowe_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 19:00 - Nov 19 by Jack123 |
He would be the last person on earth, I would want representing Wales.
He can be as serious as he likes, he's an absolute plank. |
Drakeford does not even like football he is rugby man.
Sheer hypocrisy after he shut football grounds in Wales while they were open in England. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 10:56 - Nov 21 with 1251 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:21 - Nov 21 by felixstowe_jack |
Drakeford does not even like football he is rugby man.
Sheer hypocrisy after he shut football grounds in Wales while they were open in England. |
Indeed Felix.
Hypocrisy,as I keep saying ,is something we are drowning in. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 20:45 - Nov 22 with 1143 views | max936 |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:21 - Nov 21 by felixstowe_jack |
Drakeford does not even like football he is rugby man.
Sheer hypocrisy after he shut football grounds in Wales while they were open in England. |
He's a Cardiff City fan, I think he at the Derby game the other week.
He doesn't drink though, so he should be shot for that alone  |  | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:44 - Nov 23 with 1097 views | CountyJim |
Mark is also a member of Glamorgan County cricket club as well at least he follows his team's |  | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 11:29 - Nov 23 with 1067 views | Boundy |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:21 - Nov 21 by felixstowe_jack |
Drakeford does not even like football he is rugby man.
Sheer hypocrisy after he shut football grounds in Wales while they were open in England. |
@ But now Mr Drakeford said he "had to make a decision about how proportional It was to be sending ministers to a football tournament at a time when the cost of living crisis is having such an impact on the lives of people in Wales and on the Welsh government as well".
"I came to the conclusion that the two games that gave us the biggest opportunity to promote Wales, to get Wales known around the world, were the first game of all, against the United States, [with] an enormous audience and a very important market for us here in Wales, and the game against England, which will be an opportunity to explain to many people around the world who won't understand this fully, that the United Kingdom is made, of course, more than just one country.@
Really hard to decide how many pairs of pants to pack | |
| "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 17:10 - Nov 23 with 974 views | felixstowe_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:44 - Nov 23 by CountyJim |
Mark is also a member of Glamorgan County cricket club as well at least he follows his team's |
You mean Cardiff Cricket club they no longer represent Glamorgan. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:28 - Nov 29 with 762 views | felixstowe_jack |
How about condemning the forced removal of 11,000 Ukrainian children to Russia. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 16:58 - Nov 29 with 755 views | onehunglow |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:28 - Nov 29 by felixstowe_jack |
How about condemning the forced removal of 11,000 Ukrainian children to Russia. |
Nah
You ve got it all wrong man
These were being rescued and repatriated to mother Russia ,just like Crimea .
No doubt about it that we are seeing magnificent evil here which is supported by people who do not have the courage of their convictions to live under Russia s boot . | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:44 - Nov 30 with 726 views | controversial_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 13:28 - Nov 29 by felixstowe_jack |
How about condemning the forced removal of 11,000 Ukrainian children to Russia. |
Or the killing of 14k in the Donbass by Ukrainian Neo Nazis with the approval and support of the govt. | | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 21:03 - Nov 30 with 704 views | Boundy |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:44 - Nov 30 by controversial_jack |
Or the killing of 14k in the Donbass by Ukrainian Neo Nazis with the approval and support of the govt. |
Stay on topic , we already know yout warped views on that particular subject so don't spoil this one | |
| "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 22:29 - Nov 30 with 693 views | controversial_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 21:03 - Nov 30 by Boundy |
Stay on topic , we already know yout warped views on that particular subject so don't spoil this one |
They are not views , it's fact | | | |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:44 - Dec 1 with 668 views | felixstowe_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 09:44 - Nov 30 by controversial_jack |
Or the killing of 14k in the Donbass by Ukrainian Neo Nazis with the approval and support of the govt. |
A lot let than the 100,000 plus the Russians have actually killed in Ukraine.
The figure you mentioned has never been verified by any independent bodies just a figment of Putin's warped mind. Very few human rights in Russia. Anyone who disagrees with Putin is either murdered, sent to Gulag or just disappears. | |
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| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 15:35 - Dec 1 with 657 views | controversial_jack |
| Qatar LGBGT from Human Rights watch on 14:44 - Dec 1 by felixstowe_jack |
A lot let than the 100,000 plus the Russians have actually killed in Ukraine.
The figure you mentioned has never been verified by any independent bodies just a figment of Putin's warped mind. Very few human rights in Russia. Anyone who disagrees with Putin is either murdered, sent to Gulag or just disappears. |
The Ukrainians should have curbed their Neo Nazi units, then maybe this wouldn't have happened. | | | |
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