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Wales Online
Wales Online
World
AP reporters & Alistair Mason

Homosexuality described as 'damage in the mind' and 'spiritual harm' by World Cup ambassador

Khalid Salman World Cup Qatar ZDF

An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as "damage in the mind". Former Qatari footballer Khalid Salman's comments came just two weeks before the tournament begins in the Gulf state.

Salman told a German public broadcaster that being gay is “haram”, or forbidden in Arabic, and that he has a problem with children seeing gay people. Excerpts of the television interview were shown on Monday night on ZDF’s news programme Heute Journal.

The choice of Qatar to host the tournament has been a controversial one ever since it was made by FIFA back in 2010. And the gas-rich emirate's treatment of LGBTQ+ people has been a source of concern to many critics.

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