We just got word that human rights activist Peter Tatchell, director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation has been detained in Qatar where he was demonstrating outside The National Museum in Doha against their homophobic government. Peter was holding a sign that stated, “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’ #QatarAntiGay.” At this reporting we don’t know where he has been taken but we demand that Tatchell be released & returned to the United Kingdom. Pliny Soocoormanee Executive Officer Peter Tatchell Foundation stated, “A few minutes ago, Peter was seized by the Qatari security services while demonstrating in Doha against one of the most homophobic regimes on Earth. Qatar hosts the FIFA football World Cup in three weeks. He was arrested near Qatar’s national museum while staging the first ever public LGBT+ protest in Qatar or any Gulf state. Peter was holding a placard supporting Qatari LGBT+ people who can face jail, ‘honor’ killing & forced conversion practices. Under Sharia law, the maximin penalty for homosexuality is death. The current whereabouts of Peter are unknown. We are currently working to secure Peter’s release.” During the 2018 World Cup games in Moscow, Russia Tatchell was arrested & released after bravely staging a one-man protest against Putin’s failure to act against Chechnya’s torture of our LGBTQ community that brought international attention to this issue. I talked to Peter on OUTTAKE VOICES™ in this exclusive audio interview about his work fighting for the elimination of exclusion & discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, gender, disability, religion, belief, age, sexual orientation & gender identity.
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I stood in front of the National Museum of Qatar on the busy main road with my placard for 35 minutes before state security arrived, followed by police. I was arrested and detained on the kerbside for 49 minutes. There were a total of nine officers surrounding and interrogating me about where I was from, who was helping me, where I was staying and when I was leaving Qatar. Officers also arrested my colleague, Simon Harris, from the Peter Tatchell Foundation, who was filming and photographing me. The police took Simon’s phone and deleted all his photos and videos - but only after he had already sent them to London. This was the first LGBT+ public protest in Qatar or any Gulf nation. I did this protest to highlight Qatar’s abuse of LGBT, women’s and migrant workers rights. I was standing in solidarity with brave Qatari human rights defenders who cannot make their voices heard because of the risk of arrest, jail and torture. I am heading back to the airport with Simon now.
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