It hasn't started yet and the Qatar Soccer World Cup is already accumulating serious bans. This Tuesday, some statements attributed to the spokesman for the Qatar World Cup, Nasser Al-Khater, have gone viral, in which he assures that there will be prison sentences for those who display an LGTBI flag.
“Whoever wears the LGBTI flag in the next soccer World Cup will be arrested for 7 or 11 years. We are in an Islamic country, our religion, beliefs and culture must be respected, ”said the person in charge according to Onda Cero. However, it is unknown where and when Nasser Al-Khater gave these statements.
The leader of Más País, Íñigo Errejón, has reacted this Tuesday to the words of the Qatari and has demanded that the Spanish soccer team wear the rainbow colors in the first World Cup match in its shirt, to show that the country defends with "proud » the rights and freedoms of LGTBI people.
At a press conference in Congress, the deputy has demanded this gesture from the national soccer team to show that Spain "does not bow to the fanaticism" of a "religious dictatorship" that does not respect human rights, reports EP.
What the Qatari authorities did make clear was that they would confiscate the LGBTI flags to “protect” the fans. Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari, the director of Qatar 2022 Security, assured that if a fan waves a rainbow flag, his duty is to take it away so that other people do not attack him. «Not me, but someone closer could attack him... I cannot guarantee the behavior of all people. And I'll say, 'Please, there's no need to really wave that flag right now,'” he said in April.
In addition, in December the director of the World Cup organizing committee, Nasser Al Khater, asked that homosexual people not have public displays of affection. “They will come to Qatar as fans and attendees of a football tournament and they will be able to do what any other human being would do. Public displays of affection are frowned upon and this applies to everyone," he pointed out.
Added to this limitation are others also related to the religion and tradition of the country. Alcohol cannot be drunk inside the stadiums, except in some exclusive events, and fans will not be able to introduce alcoholic beverages. Not to mention that in the state of Qatar there is hardly any alcohol outside the tourist precincts.
Finally, having sex outside of marriage will also be a risk factor. As published by the 'Daily Star', a sexual encounter of this type during the 2022 World Cup could cost a sentence of up to seven years in prison.
“Sex is very much off the menu, unless you come as a husband-wife couple. There will definitely be no one-night stands at Worlds. There will be no parties. Everyone must keep a cool head, unless they want to risk being trapped in prison, "police sources told the English newspaper.
However, the World Cup organization has asked for respect for its culture and traditions. "Qatar and neighboring countries are much more conservative and we ask fans to respect. We are sure that they will, just as we respect different cultures, we hope ours will too," Al Khater said.
