JAGISTS

Gay rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell ”arrested’” in Qatar while staging ‘first ever LGBT protest in a gulf state’ 26 days before World Cup begins

British human rights activist, Peter Tatchell was allegedly arrested by Qatari police for staging a public LGBT protest, 26 days before the start of the 2022 World Cup.

The protest was ‘the first-ever public LGBT+ protest in any gulf state,’ according to a representative of the veteran protester.

Tatchell, 70, staged the one-man protest outside the National Museum of Qatar in Doha on Tuesday, with pictures showing him holding a placard supporting Qatari LGBT people. The placard read: ‘Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion”.

According to Mail Online, two uniformed police officers and three other officials arrived at the scene outside Qatar’s national museum. They folded up his placard and took photos of Tatchell’s passport and other papers, and those of a man accompanying him.

Tatchell later claimed that he was then arrested for holding the protest, before shortly being released.

Qatari officials said this was not true and Tatchell was not arrested.

A spokesperson for the Qatari government said: ‘Rumours on social media that a representative from the Peter Tatchell Foundation has been arrested in Qatar are completely false and without merit.

‘An individual standing in a traffic roundabout was cordially and professionally asked to move to the sidewalk, no arrests were made.’

A spokesperson for the Peter Tatchell Foundation, who said he was arrested, said the arrest is proof that the country is using the World Cup as a sports washing project to enhance its image on the world stage.

‘There can be no normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime like Qatar. It is a homophobic, sexist and racist dictatorship,’ his statement said.

‘Qatar cannot be allowed to sportswash its reputation. It is using the World Cup to enhance its international image. We must ensure that the tyrant regime in Doha does not score a PR victory.

Tatchell said he ‘did this protest to shine a light on Qatar’s human rights abuses against LGBT+ people, women, migrant workers…

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