LGBT+ campaigner Peter Tatchell says he has been arrested for protesting in Qatar, just weeks before the Fifa World Cup begins in the Middle East state.
The claim was immediately denied by officials in Doha, who insisted reports of his arrest were “completely false and without merit”.
Other reports suggested that Qatari police on Tuesday had only stopped his one-man protest, not arrested him. However, the veteran campaigner said he “was arrested and detained for 49 minutes”.
What is clear is that Mr Tatchell was demonstrating outside the National Museum of Qatar in the capital, Doha, while holding a placard reading: “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’”, before being detained.
He was also wearing a T-shirt with the hashtag: #QatarAntiGay.
Speaking before his protest, he claimed that it was the first LGBT+ protest to take place in Qatar.
“There can be no normal sporting relations with an abnormal regime like Qatar. It is a homophobic, sexist and racist dictatorship,” he said.
“Qatar cannot be allowed to sportswash its reputation. It is using the World Cup to enhance its international image. We must ensure that the tyrant regime in Doha does not score a PR victory.”
Two uniformed police officers and three plain clothes officials later arrived at the scene, where he had been protesting for some 35 minutes, said Mr Tatchell. Officers folded up his placard and took photos of his passport and other papers, and those of a man accompanying him.
Police left after shaking hands with Mr Tatchell, reported Reuters.
Qatar’s Government Communications Office said it was “extremely disappointed to see baseless accusations being freely reported by media outlets without facts”.
It added that Mr Tatchell had been “cordially and professionally” asked to move to a nearby pavement when police arrived and that no arrests were made.
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar. Organisers of the World Cup – which starts on 20 November, and is the first to be held in a Middle Eastern nation – say that everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or background, is welcome, while also warning against public displays of affection.
