Security forces in Qatar arbitrarily arrested and abused LGBT Qataris as lately as final month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed.
The report comes simply weeks earlier than the Gulf Arab state hosts the 2022 males’s soccer World Cup.
HRW stated it had interviewed six LGBT Qataris, together with 4 transgender girls, one bisexual girl and one homosexual man, who reported being detained between 2019 and 2022.
They stated that they had been detained with out cost in an underground jail in Doha and subjected to verbal and bodily abuse, together with kicking and punching.
One particular person stated they have been held for 2 months in solitary confinement.
“All six said that police forced them to sign pledges indicating that they would ‘cease immoral activity’,” HRW stated.
The group added that transgender girls detainees have been pressured to attend conversion remedy classes at a government-sponsored clinic.
One of the transgender Qatari girls interviewed by HRW instructed Reuters information company she was arrested a number of instances, most lately this summer time when she was held for a number of weeks.
Authorities had stopped her on account of her look or for possessing make-up, the girl stated, including that she had been overwhelmed to the purpose of bleeding and had her head shaved.
Read extra:
Lineker says he is aware of two homosexual Premier League stars and hopes they’ll come out at Qatar World Cup
England and Wales mirror soccer’s delicate method on the World Cup over rights violations
A Qatari official stated in an announcement that HRW’s allegations “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false”.
He added: “Qatar does not tolerate discrimination against anyone, and our policies and procedures are underpinned by a commitment to human rights for all.
“The Qatari authorities doesn’t function or license any ‘conversion centres’.
“The rehabilitation clinic mentioned in the report supports individuals suffering from behavioural conditions such as substance dependence, eating disorders and mood disorders, and operates in accordance with the highest international medical standards.”
Homosexuality is against the law within the conservative Muslim nation, and a few soccer stars have raised issues over the rights of followers travelling to the occasion.
Organisers of the World Cup, which begins on 20 November and is the primary held in a Middle Eastern nation, say that everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or background, is welcome, whereas additionally warning in opposition to public shows of affection.
Source: information.sky.com”