Qatar’s World Cup ambassador: “Homosexuals have mental damage” Ukraine nationalizes war companies – the night update without photos

An official ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as “mental damage”. Ex-national player Khalid Salman said in an interview for the ZDF documentary “Geheimsache Qatar” that “a lot of ‘things’ would come into the country during the World Cup”. “Let’s talk about gays. The most important thing is that everyone will accept that you come here. But they will have to accept our rules,” said the 60-year-old.

Press secretary stops interview

He especially has problems with kids who see gay people, Salman said. Because then they would learn something that is not right. In his eyes, being gay is “haram”, ie forbidden. That’s not all: “It’s mental damage,” he added. The spokesman for the World Cup organizing committee, who accompanied and monitored the ZDF team during the shooting, interrupted the interview at this point, according to information from ZDF.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Qatar and are punishable by up to seven years in prison. The tournament organizers and FIFA had repeatedly emphasized that all fans were “welcome” to the World Cup in Qatar. The emir of the Gulf state, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, also recently said that respect for “our culture” is expected. The documentary “Geheimsache Qatar” can be seen on ZDF on Tuesday from 8:15 pm.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani accused the German government of double standards on Monday in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. The resentment in Doha was fueled by statements by Home Secretary Nancy Faeser (SPD), who had demanded, among other things, security guarantees for the LGBTQ community from the World Cup host. “With all due respect, these were not necessary at all,” al-Thani said of Faeser’s statements. “We have repeatedly reiterated from the highest level that everyone is welcome and that no one is discriminated against.”

Ex-national player Thomas Hitzlsperger also criticized the host country in an interview with t-online. “We apply our standards to criticism – and Qatar has to face the criticism. And I think our standards are perfectly legitimate in this case, because it’s about human rights. You can’t go against that with culture or religion.”

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(sid, np, con)