A World Cup official in the host country of Qatar drew criticism after saying that homosexuality is “damage in the mind” and that gay visitors to his country must “accept” the rules in the Muslim country.
“They have to accept our rules here,” Qatari World Cup Ambassador Khalid Salman said during an interview with German television broadcaster ZDF this week.
“(Homosexuality) is haram. You know what haram (forbidden) means?,” Salman continued. When asked why it was haram, Salman said: “I am not a strict Muslim but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind.”
“During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman added in the interview. “The most important thing is, everybody will accept that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules.”
Branding is displayed near the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, where soccer’s World Cup draw will be held, in Doha, Qatar, Thursday, March 31, 2022.
(AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
The interview was cut short by a media officer of the World Cup organizing committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals, ZDF reported.
Germany’s interior minister condemned Salman’s remarks.
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“Of course such comments are terrible, and that is the reason why we are working on things in Qatar hopefully improving,” Nancy Faeser said Tuesday.
About 1.2 million international visitors are expected to visit Qatar later this month for the World Cup tournament and critics have continuously expressed concern about human rights abuses in the oil rich nation, particularly toward gays and lesbians.
Homosexuality has been criminalized by the country’s Islamist government and article 258 of Qatar’s legal code imposes a prison term of seven years for gay relations involving copulation. Individuals can be jailed for “leading, instigating or seducing a male in any way to commit sodomy.”
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Qatar 2022 CEO Nasser Al Khater, left, and Yasir Al Jamal, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy director general, attend a press conference on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in Doha, Oct. 17, 2022.
(Nikku/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Faeser says the prime minister of Qatar assured her last week that fans have a “safety guarantee” regardless of “where they come from, whom they love and what they believe in.”
Qatar has publicly pushed back against criticism from the international community over its human rights treatment of both homosexuals and migrant workers.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the country’s ruling emir, said last month that Qatar “has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has ever faced.”
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The Al Janoub Stadium, one of the eight venues to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
(Sidhik Keerantakath/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
“The campaign tends to continue and expand to include fabrications and double standards that were so ferocious that it has unfortunately prompted many people to question the real reasons and motives,” he said.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
