LGBTQ+ Rights Activist Stopped in Qatar Ahead of World Cup
British human rights activist Peter Tatchell was briefly stopped in Qatar on Tuesday for staging a public demonstration in Doha, the country's capital city.
According to the Peter Tatchell Foundation, he was "detained" for holding the first pro-LGBTQ+ protest in any Gulf state.With less than a month to go before the FIFA World Cup, which is expected to draw huge crowds of tourists from around the world to the nation, Tatchell stood outside the National Museum of Qatar with a sign calling attention to the nation’s mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people.“Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’ #QatarAntiGay,” read a sign that the activist held while wearing a T-shirt with the same hashtag emblazoned on it.The foundation’s YouTube page shows that Tatchell was standing peacefully in a pedestrian area along a street when a security officer approached him and folded up his sign.
The video ends as the security official walks away from Tachell.But Tatchell’s supporters tweeted that he had been seized and that his whereabouts had been unknown for some time.
At 8:34 a.m. EDT, Tatchell tweeted that he had been freed and would be heading to the airport to depart the country.“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,” he tweeted.
