Qatar’s World Cup Showcases Renewed Ties With Saudi Arabia, but Scars Remain

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Gulf neighbors were split for years in a bitter regional dispute. Now, the glare of attention provided by the soccer tournament is highlighting their complicated reunion.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on the sidelines of the World Cup in Doha, Qatar. | Qatar News Agency
AL-AHSA, Saudi Arabia — There used to be so many Qataris in the bazaar in the Saudi oasis of Al-Ahsa, hunting for deals on spices and sandals, that some merchants called it “the Qatar market.” Qataris would cross the border and drive 100 miles through the desert to reach the towns of Al-Ahsa, loading their SUVs with sacks of flour, dining in the restaurants and filling the hotels.

Then came “the crisis,” as people at the market call it. Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, severed ties with Qatar in 2017 and effectively isolated the tiny country, accusing its government of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs. Qatari officials denied the allegations and accused Saudi Arabia and the other countries of creating a “blockade” against their nation. Saudi Arabia closed the border — Qatar’s only land border — and Qatari business in Al-Ahsa withered.

Few people felt more relief than the merchants in Al-Ahsa when the split ended last year, as Saudi officials moved to resolve conflicts abroad that had become costly and contentious. Last week, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia clasped hands and grinned at the opening ceremony of the soccer World Cup in Qatar, showing off the repair of a rift that reshaped the Gulf. » | Vivian Nereim | Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Hear from US Journalist Who Was Detained for Wearing a Rainbow Shirt in Qatar

Nov 22, 2022 | CNN's Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon, and Kaitlan Collins speak to journalist Grant Wahl who was temporarily detained by security for wearing a rainbow shirt while covering the World Cup in Qatar.

What Are the Costs and Consequences of the Qatar World Cup? | DW Business Special

Nov 26, 2022 | 2022 World Cup host Qatar is throwing crazy sums of money at the premier men’s football event, to make the small emirate look progressive. That won’t just benefit its rulers, but also Western economies, in justifying their business ties with the rich energy producer. Ben Fajzullin talks about the costs and consequences with David Conn, Investigations Correspondent at The Guardian.

OneLove Bands and Plastic Swords: What’s Banned at Qatar World Cup

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Crusader’ costumes are the latest reported addition to the list of items unwelcome at the tournament

Belgium fans wearing rainbow T-shirts at their team’s opening match against Canada at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Doha on Wednesday. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
If you’re on your way to Qatar and looking forward to strolling up to Al Bayt

Stadium in a bikini with a plastic sword in hand, OneLove band on your arm, rainbow hat on your head and a pint in your hand, you’re going to be disappointed.

The list of items banned at the World Cup continues to grow, most recently with reports that England fans have been told not to wear “crusader” costumes, occasionally favoured by middle-aged white men as misguided-at-best clothing for international matches.

Here we take a look at the items banned in Qatar so far. » | Jamie Grierson | Friday, November 25, 2022

Qataris Bristle at What They See as Double Standards over Their World Cup

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Many in the country say the barrage of criticism about its human rights record and the exploitation of migrant workers is laced with discrimination and hypocrisy.

The skyline of Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Monday. The country is the first in the Middle East to host the World Cup. | Erin Schaff/The New York Times
When the singer Rod Stewart was offered more than $1 million to perform in Qatar, he said, he turned it down.

“It’s not right to go,” Mr. Stewart told the The Sunday Times of London recently, joining a string of public figures to declare boycotts or express condemnation of Qatar as the Gulf nation hosts the soccer World Cup.

In the prelude to the tournament, which started this past weekend, Qatar has faced an increasing barrage of criticism over its human rights record, including the authoritarian monarchy’s criminalization of homosexuality and the well-documented abuse of migrant workers.

Yet Mr. Stewart voiced no such disapproval when he performed in 2010 in Dubai or 2017 in Abu Dhabi, cities in the nearby United Arab Emirates — a country that also has an authoritarian monarchy and has faced allegations of human rights violations but that has more successfully cultivated a Western-friendly image. Mr. Stewart declined a request for comment through his public relations firm. » | Vivian Nereim | Friday, November 25, 2022

Where is the logic in worshipping Allah as the One God and Creator on the one hand and then criminalizing and punishing His creation on the other? How can God be both inerrant and yet still create gay people who are considered ‘abhorrent’. Are gays not a part of God’s creation? Are gays not exactly how God wanted them to be? Or did the inerrant God err? – © Mark Alexander

‘Treat People with Decency’: Roy Keane Attacks Staging of World Cup in Qatar

THE GUARDIAN: ‘To dismiss human rights flippantly … it’s not right,’ says Keane / ITV pundit was discussing controversy over OneLove armbands

Roy Keane was outspoken in his condemnation of staging the World Cup in Qatar while appearing on ITV’s coverage. Photograph: ITV
Roy Keane has condemned Fifa’s decision to allow the World Cup to be hosted in Qatar, in view of the country’s human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers and LGBTQ+ people.

Speaking during ITV’s live coverage of Argentina v Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midfielder summed up the ethical concerns felt by many regarding the controversial tournament. Same-sex relationships are illegal in Qatar, while thousands of workers are alleged to have died during the construction of the tournament stadiums and infrastructure.

“The World Cup shouldn’t be here. It shouldn’t be here,” Keane said. “The corruption, regarding Fifa, you’ve got a country, the way they treat migrant workers, gay people.” » | Luke McLaughlin | Tuesday, November 22, 2022

‘Very Frustrated’: England and Wales Back Down over OneLove Armband

THE GUARDIAN: Seven countries issue joint statement after warning from Fifa / They say players could be booked or forced to leave the pitch

England’s Harry Kane wearing the OneLove armband in September. Photograph: The FA/PA
England, Wales and five other European nations have confirmed they will not wear the OneLove armband at the World Cup in Qatar, saying Fifa made clear they would face sporting sanctions and that their captains could be booked or even forced to leave the pitch.

Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland were the other countries that had planned to wear the rainbow armband in a country where same-sex relationships are illegal. Fifa has ordered all captains to wear armbands that promote other social messages.

A joint statement from the seven football federations said: “Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in Fifa World Cup games. » | David Hytner, Nick Ames and Sean Ingle in Doha | Monday, November 21, 2022

World Cup: Gay Fans 'Will Feel Safe'

Oct 13, 2022 | World Cup chief Nasser Al Khater told Sky News gay fans will be welcome to display affection and rainbow flags.

The World Cup That Changed Everything

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The decision to take the World Cup to Qatar has upturned a small nation, battered the reputation of global soccer’s governing body and altered the fabric of the sport.

Illustration by Cristiana Couceiro; Photographs by EPA, via Shutterstock (ball), Reuters (euro), Associated Press (dollar), Getty Images (desert, skyline)
Michel Platini was expecting a private audience with the president of France when he arrived for lunch on a cold day in November 2010. Instead, as Platini, a legendary French player who in retirement had risen to become one of the most powerful men in soccer, stepped into a lavish salon inside the president’s official residence, he noticed immediately that the man he had come to see, Nicolas Sarkozy, was absent.

Instead, Platini was directed toward a small group chatting across the room, and to a conversation that would alter the course of his career, stain his reputation, and forever change the sport to which he had dedicated his life.

Platini smiled as he was formally introduced to the lunch’s guests of honor: Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who would, within a few years, replace his father as the country’s absolute ruler. The Qataris had come to Paris to discuss a plan that bordered on the fantastical: Their tiny, impossibly wealthy Gulf state wanted to host the World Cup.

Platini, a vice president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, had long been cool to the idea. A year earlier, he had told friends that he believed allowing Qatar — a country without any meaningful soccer tradition, one lacking basic infrastructure like stadiums — to stage the biggest sporting event in the world would prove disastrous for FIFA. Only two months previously, he had confided to a rival United States bid that he wanted the 2022 tournament to go “anywhere but Qatar.” » | Tariq Panja * and Rory Smith | Saturday, 19 November 2022

* Tariq Panja was present in 2010 when Qatar was picked to host the 2022 World Cup. This article is drawn from hundreds of interviews he and Rory Smith have conducted on its victory and the consequences for soccer.

Human Rights Concerns Hang over World Cup in Qatar | DW News

Nov 18, 2022 | With less than two days to go until kickoff in the controversial World Cup in Qatar, the human rights situation in the emirate is still considered poor. There have been changes, but do they go far enough? The situation of migrant workers in Qatar has attracted particularly intense criticism in recent years. Numerous journalists and non-governmental organizations have traveled to the country, documenting the sometimes hellish living and working conditions in shelters and on construction sites.

Coupe du monde 2022 : un miroir des malheurs du monde : L’éditorial du « Monde ». L’indignation tardive suscitée par l’organisation du Mondial de football au Qatar illustre comment certaines préoccupations, le changement climatique en tête, sont devenues centrales et comment les pays occidentaux se sont laissés aveugler par le mirage qatari. »

Qatar Bans Beer Sales at World Cup Stadiums

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The about-face on alcohol could violate a multimillion-dollar FIFA sponsorship agreement, and signaled that soccer’s governing body may no longer be in full control of its showcase event.

DOHA, Qatar — Beer is out at the World Cup.

In an abrupt about-face, Qatari officials have decided that the only drinks that will be on sale to fans at stadiums during the monthlong World Cup will be nonalcoholic.

The decision, which came two days before the tournament’s opening match, was confirmed on Friday by FIFA, the tournament’s owner.

“Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues,” FIFA announced. The decision, it said, would mean “removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.”

The ban on beer is the latest and most dramatic change to an evolving alcohol plan that has for months increased tensions between FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, and Qatar, a conservative Muslim nation where the sale of alcohol is tightly controlled. But it also will complicate FIFA’s $75 million sponsorship agreement with Budweiser; infuriate fans already chafing at restrictions, costs and inconveniences around the event; and once again leave organizers scrambling to adjust — this time only 48 hours before the tournament’s opening game on Sunday. » | Tariq Panja | Friday, November 18, 2022

Revealed: Qatar has spent £440,000 hosting British MPs since 2012: openDemocracy analysis reveals extent of Qatar’s charm offensive in the decade leading up to the World Cup »

Coupe du monde 2022 : la consommation d’alcool bannie aux abords des stades à deux jours du coup d’envoi : Dans un revirement de dernière minute, le Qatar a décidé de restreindre davantage l’accès à l’alcool en marge du Mondial. »

Qatar setzt Bierverbot rund um WM-Stadien durch: 48 Stunden vor dem WM-Auftakt setzt sich Gastgeber Qatar doch noch durch: Rund um die Stadien wird kein Alkohol verkauft. Für die Fans ist es kurz vor dem Turnierstart die nächste Umstellung. »

Gay Qataris Physically Abused Then Recruited as Agents, Campaigner Says

THE GUARDIAN: State using them to track down other gay people, he says / Rights group tells of transgender woman kept in solitary

Gay Qataris have been promised safety from physical torture in exchange for helping the authorities to track down other LGBTQ+ people in the country, a prominent Qatari doctor and gay rights campaigner has told the Guardian.

Dr Nasser Mohamed, who lives in the US but retains contact with hundreds of gay Qataris, said that some secret networks had been compromised after arrests by Qatar’s preventive security department.

A lot [of gay Qataris] don’t know about each other,” Mohamed said. “And it’s safer that way because when the law enforcement finds one person, they actively try to find their entire network. But some of the people who were captured and physically abused were then recruited as agents.

“Now there are agents in the gay community that were promised safety from physical torture in exchange for working for the preventive security department and helping them find groups of LGBTQ+ people.” » | Exclusive by Sean Ingle in Doha | Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Related links in English and German here.

World Cup: Ministers Urged to Warn LGBT+ Fans about Qatar Risks

Andrew Boff is a patron of the LGBT+ Conservatives group | ANDREW BOFF
BBC: The UK government has been urged to change its Qatar travel advice to warn LGBT+ football fans about the risks of going to the World Cup.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, where same-sex relationships can be punishable by the death sentence.

Andrew Boff, deputy chair of the London Assembly and a leading Conservative gay rights campaigner, said Qatar is not safe for LGBT+ people.

Qatar says all fans will be welcomed to the World Cup "without discrimination".

Currently, the UK government's World Cup travel advice contains no specific safety warning beyond stating the legal status of homosexuality in Qatar and the assurances given by its authorities.

"Obviously, when you go to a country, you respect their traditions," said Mr Boff, who is a patron of the LGBT+ Conservatives campaign group.

But the mere fact that being gay, or lesbian, or trans is illegal in Qatar and will open you up for prosecution means it is not a safe place for LGBT+ people to travel to and the government advice should clearly say that."

He said some in Qatar clearly have a "medieval attitude to human rights" given comments made by a Qatar World Cup ambassador, who called homosexuality "damage in the mind". » | Joshua Nevett, BBC Politics | Friday, November 11, 2022

Personally, I have absolutely no interest in football; so, I certainly shan’t be attending the World Cup in Qatar. However, for those that are interested in football, I can understand the attraction. I would suggest, though, that they think very long and very hard before deciding to go to Qatar.

Attitudes to homosexuality in the Gulf are indeed mediæval. (About which, perhaps more at a later date.) Architecture is extremely modern; the mindset does not match the modernity of the architecture or its hi-tech appearance! Anyone who is gay travelling to Qatar will risk not only getting into trouble with the authorities for the slightest transgression, but will also risk being abused, and possibly beaten up, by Qataris. Exercise extreme caution!

I would say that it is not worth taking the risk. But this, of course, is a decision that each person must make for himself. – © Mark Alexander

"Geistiger Schaden": Katars WM-Botschafter äußert sich homophob

Nov 8, 2022 | Weniger als zwei Wochen vor Beginn der Fußball-WM in Katar hat der katarische WM-Botschafter, Khalid Salman, Homosexualität als "geistigen Schaden" und "haram" bezeichnet.

Related article here and here.

Qatar World Cup Ambassador Criticised for ‘Harmful’ Homosexuality Comments

THE GUARDIAN: Former Qatar player says homosexuality is ‘damage in the mind’ / Human Rights Watch condemns remark as ‘unacceptable’

Remarks by a Qatar World Cup ambassador have been called “harmful and unacceptable” after he described homosexuality as “damage in the mind”.

Khalid Salman, a former Qatar international footballer, made the comments in an interview with the German broadcaster ZDF.

Asked about the fact that homosexuality is illegal in his country, Salman said: “They have to accept our rules here. [Homosexuality] is haram [*]. You know what haram means?”
When asked why it was haram, or forbidden, Khalid Salman said: “I am not a strict Muslim but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind.” » | Paul MacInnes | Tuesday, November 8, 2022

* Haram (حَرَام) in Arabic means ‘forbidden by Allah’. For other things which are forbidden, but not necessarily forbidden by Allah, Arabic speakers usually use the word ‘mamnu’ (ممنوع). – © Mark

Hier können Sie dieser Mann darüber sprechen. Er sagt, daß Homosexualität ist „ein geistiger Schaden“.

World Cup 2022: Wales Staff Boycott Qatar over Gay Rights

BBC: Some of the Welsh national football team's staff will not travel to the World Cup in Qatar because of the country's stance on gay rights.

Head of Welsh football Noel Mooney said the team would use the event as a "platform" to discuss human rights in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

He is also asking Fifa and Uefa to "think very deeply about their conscience" when choosing host nations.

Qatari officials have said it would be a "tournament for everyone". » | James Williams, BBC Wales political correspondent | Sunday, June 12, 2022

David Beckham Slammed for Reportedly Becoming Face of Homophobic Qatar in £150 Million Deal

David Beckham speaks with Nasser al-Khelaifi, chairman of Qatar Sports Investments. (AFP via Getty/ KARIM JAAFAR)
PINK NEWS: David Beckham has reportedly signed a deal worth £150 million to become the “face of Qatar” ahead of next year’s World Cup.

According to The Sun, Beckham will “promote tourism and culture” for the next decade in the country, which is strongly anti-LGBT+ and has an atrocious human rights record.

The deal was first reported by The Mail on Sunday in February, although it is still unclear what duties the role will involve. He will reportedly earn £15 million a year for the next decade.

Beckham, who in 2007 said he was “honoured to have the tag of gay icon” and is an ambassador for UNICEF, spent a week in Qatar this month, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be LGBT+.

In a vague statement, a spokesperson for Beckham told The Telegraph: “David has been visiting Qatar regularly for over a decade and went on to play for [Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain] so he has seen the passion for football in the country and the long-term commitment that’s been made to hosting this World Cup and delivering a lasting legacy for the region.

“He’s always talked about the power of football as a force for good.

“As we reach the one-year-to-go point, he joins the wider football community that is coming together for the World Cup 2022 and he’s looking forward to what he thinks will be a great tournament.” Homosexuality can be punished by imprisonment, flogging or death in Qatar » | Lily Wakefield | Monday, October 25, 2021