LGBT Activist Peter Tatchell Is On His Way To Australia After Being Released By Qatar Police

Qatar on Tuesday released Australian born LGBTQI activist Peter Tatchell, who had staged a one-man protest against that country’s homophobic laws ahead of the FIFA World Cup. Tatchell is on his way to Sydney, after the authorities asked him to leave the country. 

“My arrest is evidence that Qatar is a police state where freedom of expression is not tolerated,” UK-based Tatchell said in a statement from Qatar airport, while waiting for his flight to Sydney. 

“Asking me to leave Qatar for staging a brief peaceful protest for LGBTQIA+ rights is an own goal that confirms the dictatorial nature of the regime. It’s a sign of weakness that the rulers are afraid of even just one person calling out their human rights abuses.”

Qatar’s First LGBTQI Protest

I have been freed by #Qatar police after staging first LGBT+ protest in the homophobic Gulf state. @FIFAcom awarded the #WorldCup to Qatar where LGBTs can be jailed & executed. #QatarAntiGay
More info: https://t.co/fEOHFIvbHw Please Retweet pic.twitter.com/u2YzU2B9kx

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) October 25, 2022

The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be held in Qatar from November 20 – December 18, 2022.

On Tuesday, Tatchell staged a one-man protest outside the National Museum of Qatar in Doha and held up a placard that read:  “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’ #QatarAntiGay.” 

In a video statement after his release, Tatchell said that he was on the main road for 35 minutes staging his peaceful protest, before securifty officials arrived, followed by the police. 

“I was arrested and detained for 49 minutes and subjected to interrogation about where I was from, where I was going. But I have now been released,” said Tatchell.

“The most important thing is this protest was to shine a light on the abuse of human rights in Qatar. This is the first ever LGBT+ protest in Qatar or any Gulf States. But I also sought to draw attention to the abuse of the rights of women and migrant workers as well.”

“I stand in solidarity with those brave Qatari human rights defenders, who cannot express their point of view, because they fear arrest, jail, and possibly even torture. I salute them. They are the true heroes,” said Tatchell. 

Qatar Denies Arrest

Qatar’s government communication office released a statement and denied that Tatchell had been arrested.  “Rumours on social media that a representative from the Peter Tatchell Foundation has been arrested in Qatar are completely false and without merit,” the statement said. 

“An individual standing in a traffic roundabout was cordially and professionally asked to move to the sidewalk, no arrests were made. We are extremely disappointed to see baseless accusations being freely reported by media outlets, without facts.”

“Many organisations will use increased media attention on Qatar ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to promote their own profiles. We are always open to dialogue with entities that wish to discuss important topics, but spreading false information with the deliberate intention of provoking negative responses is irresponsible and unacceptable,” the official statement stated. 

The government, however, did not deny that two uniformed police officers and personnel in plain clothes had arrived at the scene of the protest, confiscated the banner and had detained the activist and an associate. 

‘Police Deleted Photos, Videos On Mobile Phone’

Tatchell accused the government of trying to deflect and misrepresent the incident. 

“A colleague and I were held by police and state security services for 49 minutes. Photos and videos of the protest on a mobile phone were deleted by police and the detainees were not allowed to leave,” said Tatchell.

“We were interrogated about our trip. Then we were told we must be on our onward flight to Sydney. It’s a shame the Qatari government is trying to deflect attention from their diabolical human rights abuses by misrepresenting a peaceful protestor.”

Josh Cavallo Urges FIFA To Consider LGBT Stance Countries Have For WC Hosting Rights

In a statement before his protest, Tatchell slammed FIFA for allowing Qatar to “sportswash” its appealing record on human rights and treatment of the LGBTQI community.

“LGBTQIA+ Qataris face police harassment, online entrapment, ‘honour’ killing, arrest, three years jail and potentially the death penalty. Qatar has secret gay conversion centres where LGBTQIA+ people can be detained and subjected to abusive attempts to turn them straight. Women must get permission from a male guardian to marry, work in many government jobs and to study and travel abroad,” Tatchell said. 

Homosexuality in Qatar  is illegal. The Penal Code (2004) criminalises acts of ‘sodomy’ and ‘sexual intercourse’ between people of the same sex.