As Qatar prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the end of the year, the government has assured prospective visitors that the state will welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) tourists and that fans will be free to fly the rainbow flag at the games. But for LGBT Qataris like Mohammed, openly expressing his sexuality as a gay man is not an option. Doing so, he fears, would land him in jail.

In 2014, Mohammed was arrested for alleged same-sex conduct, which is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment under article 285 Qatar’s penal code. While in detention, officer searched his phone, identified a man he had been messaging, and attempted to contact this person to target him as well. Mohammed was detained for weeks, throughout which time he endured verbal abuse and sexual harassment by police. Officer even shaved his head.

Seven years late, Mohammed has resigned himself to a life of discretion: he dresses in a masculine style, refrains from posting about his sexuality online, and no longer meets men from dating apps.

Mohammed seclusion is not out of choice, but out of necessity. Individuals have told Human Rights Watch that the Qatari government surveys and arrests LGBT+ individuals. They have effectively excluded LGBT+ content from the public sphere.

As Qatar advances its surveillance capabilities, including inside football stadiums, the possibility of LGBT+ Qataris being prosecuted for publicly supporting LGBT+ rights will long remain after the international fans have gone.

Physical and virtual spaces free from surveillance are vanishing in Qatar as data protection law allows broad exemptions that undermine the right to privacy. When digital surveillance is combined with laws that target individuals based on consensual sexual content outside of marriage, there is nowhere left to hide.

Nasser Al Khater, Chief Executive of the tournament’s organising committee, insists that Qatar has been treated ‘unfairly and unjustly’ since the state earned the right to host the tournament 11 years ago.

“We know that the World Cup bring with it a certain amount of scrutiny. We’ve seen it in the past, but if it’s something that’s going to be a catalyst for change, we’re all for it,” Al Khater has claimed.

Among the recent critics of this year’s World Cup, the first to be held in the Middle Ear, is Australian footballer Josh Cavallo, the only current, openly gay players in men’s top-flight football. In response to Cavallo’s fears, Al Khater said: “On the contrary, we welcome here in the state of Qatar, we welcome him to come and see even prior to the World Cup… Nobody feels threatened here, nobody feels unsafe.

“The notion that people don’t feel safe here is untrue. I’ve said this before and I say this to you again, everybody is welcome here. Everybody is welcome here and everybody will feel safe here. Qatar is a tolerant country. It’s a welcoming country. It’s a hospitable country.”

It is not the first time that anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been a concern around a major football tournament. In 2020, European football governing body UEFA declined a request to light up Munich’s Allianz Arena in rainbow colours for a Euro 2020 match between Germany and Hungary following an anti-LGBTQ+ law passed by Hungary’s parliament.

Likewise, ahead of the 2018 World Cup, the UK Foreign Office warned ahead of the tournament that members of the LGBTQ+ community face ‘significant risk’ in travelling to Russia.

And football is not the only sporting community to raise concerns about Qatar’s anti-homosexuality laws. Ahead of Formula One’s Qatar Grand Prix in November 2021, Lewis Hamilton was widely praised for wearing a helmet featuring the Pride Progress Flag - a redesigned and more inclusive version of the traditional rainbow flag - which was emblazoned with the words ‘We Stand Together’.

Al Khater acknowledged that Qatar does have a stricter approach towards public displays of affection compared to other countries, but declined to say that homosexuality is illegal saying that “like may countries” same-sex marriage is illegal in Qatar. “In different countries, there is more leniency to public displays of affection,” he said.

“Qatar and the region are a lot more modest, and Qatar and the region are a lot more conservative. And this is what we ask fans to respect. And we’re sure that fans will respect that… We respect different cultures, and we expect other cultures to respect ours.”

The Qatari government should repeal article 285 and all other laws that criminalise consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and leave people like Mohammed living in fear in the shadows. Freedom of expression and non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be guaranteed for all Qataris, not just spectators and tourists flocking to Qatar for the World Cup.