Why was king Charles hosting the human rights-abusing emir of Qatar?

The Peter Tatchell Foundation staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday 3 December against the state visit to Britain by the emir of Qatar, citing the Gulf nation’s appalling abuse of the human rights of women, LGBTQ+ people, and migrant workers.

The emir of Qatar should NOT be having a state visit

Thirty protestors chanted “Qatar is anti-gay. SHAME!,” as king Charles and the emir travelled down the Mall in the Irish State Coach:

Pliny Soocoormanee, executive officer at the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said:

The King and Emir looked right at our protest and clearly took in the messages on our placards. Qatar is a homophobic sexist dictatorship and should not have the red carpet rolled out for its tyrant.

Pliny added that “the Princess of Wales also looked directly at us and smiled”.

Peter Tatchell, director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said:

Keir Starmer and King Charles should not have rewarded the Emir with the honour of a State Visit while his regime continues to victimise women, LGBTs and migrant workers. Feting the Emir is collusion with tyranny.

The Qatar government is a police state dictatorship. It’s guilty of systemic homophobia, sexism and the suppression of workers’ rights and basic freedoms like free speech and the right to protest.

This State Visit sends the wrong message – that the UK prioritises trade and investment over human rights. The UK should be challenging Qatar’s human rights record and seeking the release of political prisoners, not rewarding its ruler with royal pageantry and red carpets.

Ongoing and extensive human rights abuses

LGBTQ+ Qataris face harassment on the street, online entrapment by the police, arrest, three years jail and potentially the death penalty. Qatar has secret gay conversion centres where they can be detained and subjected to abusive attempts to turn them straight.

Women have to get the permission of a male guardian to marry, study, travel abroad, work in many government jobs and access reproductive health care.

Over 6,500 migrant workers have died since Qatar was given the right to host the World Cup in 2010. Many families are still waiting for compensation. Migrant workers complain of unpaid wages, overcrowded slum hostels and being refused permission to change jobs. Those who protest against these abuses have been arrested and deported.

Tatchell said:

These human rights abuses are incompatible with the values of equality and dignity that the UK claims to uphold.

Qatar is not an ally

Peter Tatchell has a long history of challenging Qatar’s human rights abuses.

Two weeks before the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he became the first person to stage a LGBT+ rights protest in Qatar, holding a placard outside Doha’s National Museum that read: “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’.” He was detained and interrogated by the authorities before being ordered to the airport to depart Qatar.

“That protest was in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Qataris and all those who are persecuted by the regime,” Mr Tatchell said. “This London protest is about continuing to expose the brutal reality behind Qatar’s carefully crafted public image”:

The Emir’s visit is an opportunity to shine a global spotlight on Qatar’s human rights abuses,” Mr Tatchell concluded. “We urge everyone who values equality and freedom to join our peaceful protest.

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