Gay man ‘hunted’ by Qatar Police and gang-raped in hotel room ahead of World Cup

He claims that as soon as one officer stopped attacking him, another began. The authorities then inspected his suitcase, accusing him of being a prostitute, prior to the arrival of a second gay male who had also been brought to the hotel.

The pair was subsequently escorted to a police station where they were each fined 300 Qatari Rials, or around £74. Ali was detained that night before being transferred to a deportation center and having his visa revoked.

“I slept in the jail for one night and when I woke up, they took me to the deportation centre. There I waited for two days to receive my passport and ticket to go back to the Philippines. They cancelled all my papers,” he said.

According to the report, several other gay men have claimed they were ‘hunted’ in the same way by Qatar’s police force. Despite Al Khater’s claims that the country is safe, LGBT+ fan groups have urged supporters from the community not to travel.

“A founding principle of our group is that we should be able to follow our team as our authentic selves wherever we play in the world without fear for our safety and with freedom from persecution,” a number of those groups, including Three Lions Pride, said in a statement in April.

“In our conversations with both FIFA and the SC, there has been little effort from organisers to proactively engage around the concerns fans and rights groups have raised. Instead, we have often heard the well-drummed PR line that ‘this is a World Cup for all’.