The interview, which took place in Doha a little less than two weeks before the start of the World Cup, was immediately interrupted by another official from the World Cup organizing committee.
In this interview, Salman spoke about the issue of the illegality of homosexuality in Qatar.
🇶🇦🗯 Khalid Salman, Ambassador of #Qatar2022about homosexuality in an interview for German TV, ZDF
“They have to accept our rules here. Homosexuality is a mental deviation”
😠😠😠😠ðŸ˜
– El Larguero (@ellarguero)
November 8, 2022
Salman declared to the cameras of ZDF that being gay was “haram,” that is, prohibited under Islamic law. “It’s a damage to the mind,” she said.
The most important thing is that everyone accepts that they come here. But they’ll have to accept our rules
With thousands of people expected to visit Doha for the World Cup, “let’s talk about gays,” Salman said.
“The most important thing is that everyone accepts that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules,” he said, adding that he is concerned that children may learn “something that is not good.”
Salman was a Qatari footballer in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was part of his country’s selection for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was chosen as one of the country’s ambassadors for this tournament.
The awarding of the soccer tournament to Qatar was heavily criticized due to the human rights situation in the Gulf state and the treatment of foreign workers.
In early November, FIFA urged nations participating in the 2022 World Cup to focus on soccer when the tournament kicks off.
FIFA confirmed to CNN that on Thursday of last week a letter signed by the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and the general secretary of the governing body, Fatma Samoura, was sent to the 32 federations of the participating nations, however he did not affirm or reject its content .
“Gianni Infantino wants the world to ‘focus on football’, there is a simple solution: FIFA could finally start tackling serious human rights issues instead of sweeping them under the rugsaid Steve Cockburn, Director of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International.
“A first step would be to publicly commit to creating a fund to compensate migrant workers before the tournament begins and to guarantee that LGBT people do not suffer discrimination or harassment. It is surprising that they have not done so yet,” added the human rights official.
Gianni Infantino is right to say that “football does not exist in a vacuum”. Hundreds of thousands of workers have faced abuse to make this tournament possible and their rights cannot be forgotten or dismissed.
(With information from CNN)