Hunted down, arrested, beaten and forced into conversion therapy.
That is the appalling reality of life for members of the LGBT+ community living in Qatar, according to a bombshell report from Human Rights Watch. Homosexuality is illegal under Qatari law and can even be punishable by death in the Middle Eastern country.
While much of the focus has been on the safety of foreign fans travelling for the World Cup, there is now increasing concern for Qatar's LGBT+ community. The stark extent of the treatment handed out to the community in Qatar has now been made clear by Human Rights Watch, who have reported a litany of abuses against LGBT+ people by security forces.
"I wouldn't say the Qatari government or authorities don't believe LGBT people exist because in the same token, security forces are hunting down LGBT people and arbitrarily arresting them," Rasha Younes, senior researcher for LGBT rights at the NGO, told Mirror Football.
"We interviewed six Qataris who described the abuses they had faced by Preventive Security Forces, including arbitrary arrest and detention at an underground cell in Doha. They experienced severe and repeated beatings and five of the individuals experienced sexual harassment by Preventive Security Forces.
"The transgender women we interviewed said that in addition to verbal harassment that they faced from Preventive Security Forces about their gender expression, including things aimed at their feminine appearance or their presumed sexual orientation, they were referred to conversion practices in a hotel in Doha.
"That requirement was a condition of their release, that they attend these conversion sessions with psychologists. Also, all of the individuals we interviewed said that they were forced to sign pledges by security forces stating that they will 'cease immoral activity' as a condition for their release."
The abuses that Human Rights Watch have published are stomach-churning.
All of the LGBT+ people they spoke to for their report were held without access to legal representation, in one case for two months in solitary confinement.
One transgender Qatari woman claimed that security forces beat her until she bled and kicked her in the stomach. A bisexual Qatari citizen was beaten until they lost consciousness, before being forced to watch restrained people getting beaten as an intimidation tactic.
The Preventive Security Forces also forced all of the individuals interviewed to unlock their phones before taking screenshots of private pictures and chats from their devices, as well as contact information of other LGBT+ people. One Qatari gay man reported that he was surveilled and arrested based on his online activity.
The likes of FIFA and even the FA have made much of the apparent power of football to help spark change in Qatar's treatment of LGBT+ people.
But the chances of that happening have been rubbished by Younes, who insisted that little has come from the increased scrutiny on the country since it was awarded the tournament.
"There has been no improvement in Qatar's record on human rights violations against LGBT people," Younes said. "Especially around the World Cup, there has been a lot of criticism and demands of the Qatari authorities and FIFA to at the very least decriminalise same-sex relationships.
"But Qatar still punishes same-sex relationships and extra-marital sex with seven years imprisonment. It also does not have any legislation that protects LGBT people from discrimination, whether that's online or offline.
"So there has been no improvement in their legal record or in their treatment of LGBT people.
"The public-facing rhetoric is, even in their response to our report, which the Qatari government says contains information that is false, not once did they say LGBT people are protected inside Qatar.
"They didn't even mention the problems of LGBT people. This steady denial of people's accounts is just further assurance that Qatari authorities are not interested in protecting LGBT people because if they were, they would at least investigate these accounts."
Despite the reports of the abuses towards LGBT+ people, Qatari authorities have frequently claimed that this will be a "World Cup for all".
But Younes believes that this claim represents yet another way in which Qatar persecutes its LGBT+ community.
"There's a double standard that the Qatari authorities are repeatedly referring to when it comes to discrimination of outsiders who are LGBT and those who are inside the country," she added.
"Suggestions that Qatar should make an exception for outsiders is an explicit reminder that Qatari authorities do not believe that LGBT people who are residents of the country exist and deserve basic rights.
"This continuous assurance that the outsiders will be protected just reinforces the idea that gender and sexual diversity is a preoccupation of outsiders and it's not something that exists or is discussed in Qatar.
"Qatari authorities also censor mainstream media in relation to gender and sexuality, including in the New York Times. There are blank pages where stories around LGBT rights are present.
"There is a general censorship and repression that is both emblematic in the media and in the discussion of LGBT rights.
"The Qatari authorities have never said that LGBT people who are residents of the country are going to be protected or are safe from discrimination."
Both the Qatar government and the Supreme Committee for the Delivery and Legacy of the World Cup have been approached for comment by Mirror Football.
