Qatar’s tough laws are enforced when it suits them, residents say

The couple of veterinarians from São Paulo Giovana Morais, 26, and Matheus Seixas, 34, moved to Qatar after being offered a job by a private company. He went in 2019 and she a year later. The distrust of the two revolved around the offer, far above the standards of the Brazilian market, and the cultural differences of the country.

But they adapted — and are not even thinking about returning to Brazil anytime soon. The couple points out that the small Middle Eastern country, which has restrictive laws regarding behavior and beliefs, “turns a blind eye” to the determinations written in its legislation. It also offers better quality of life compared to the South American nation.

“These are exceptions or cases that came to the public for something. I think that everyone can have their own private life and no one needs to know anything”, says Seixas.

The Qatar Penal Code has a section for social crimes, which deals with behavior in relation to religion, drinking, gambling, adultery, immorality, fornication, among others.

Despite being highly restrictive, residents point out that the country’s regime, an autocracy, does not require strict compliance with the law. In some cases, the secret is not to make the feat public, they say.

The code, for example, determines a sentence of up to five years for those who promote or participate in cults of a religion other than Islam. At the same time, Doha, the capital of Qatar, has a Catholic church in a reserved space, hidden and away from the center, although open.

The country also prohibits everyone from eating during Ramadan, a period in which adherents fast from sunrise to sunset. The penalty is three months in prison, in addition to a possible fine of around R$ 3,400.

With the World Cup, there were doubts whether the radical nature of the laws and guidelines would not be an impasse for foreign tourists. One of them, the recommendation to wear clothing that hides the shoulders and falls below the knees, has been eased.

The situation was noticed by the veterinarian Morais, who previously saw it as a problem to enter the mall to go shopping wearing clothes that did not comply with the instructions. At least during the championship, the situation changed.

“If I’m wearing shorts and a tank top, I can’t enter, because there’s a ‘dress code’, so I have to think about what clothes I’m going to wear. And during the World Cup, no”, he says.

Another point of tension for tourists was the laws that determine that sex outside marriage is a crime, also part of social codes. The couple could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

During the World Cup, however, foreign couples out of wedlock had no problem booking rooms together.

Far from the championship period, residents point out that the government does not have the means to supervise this type of infraction. They consider that it is important, however, to keep intimate life private so as not to have problems and that the regime seems to apply the law when convenient.

To the report of Sheet Anthropologist Francirosy Campos Barbosa, professor at USP and coordinator of Gracias (Group of Anthropology in Islamic and Arab Contexts), recalls that in religions like Islam, adherents should not show their mistakes, even though they make them.

“Religion has this thing where you don’t show your sin,” he says.

When it comes to homosexuality, however, surveillance is repressive. In Qatar, having same-sex relationships can lead to imprisonment or death for Muslims. Human Rights Watch, which frequently denounces violations of the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community in the country, states in an April 2018 report that it was not aware of any execution episodes.

During the World Cup the repression against the community continued, so that their safety was not assured and their presence, in a representative way, was not noticed.

A survey published on the Norwegian portal NRK, showed that hotels accredited by Fifa for the championship refused to host a homosexual couple. Of 69 accommodations, 3 said they would not accept the booking and another 20 urged the couple to avoid public displays of affection, suggesting they not dress gay. Already 33 of them accepted the reservation.

Two months before the start of the championship, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said that gay supporters from all over the world were welcome “without discrimination”.

In the same period that the country’s top leadership ensured the community’s safety, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders were arbitrarily arrested, according to Human Rights Watch.

In the opening month of the World Cup, former Qatar international and World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman called homosexuality “mental damage”. He added that being gay is a “haram”, a sin in Islam.