A World Cup ambassador to Qatar has described homosexuality as “mind damage” in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF, just two weeks before the soccer tournament kicks off in the Gulf nation, highlighting concerns about the conservative country’s treatment gays and lesbians. Former Qatar national team player Khalid Salman told a German journalist that being gay is “haram” or forbidden in Arabic and that he has a problem with children seeing gays. Excerpts of the television interview were shown on Monday on the ZDF Heute Journal news program. The full interview, which is part of a documentary, will be shown on ZDF on Tuesday. Germany’s interior minister condemned Salman’s remarks. “Of course comments like that are terrible, and that’s why we’re working to hopefully improve things in Qatar,” Nancy Feiser said Tuesday. About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the tournament, which has faced criticism and skepticism since the gas-rich emirate was chosen to host by FIFA in December 2010. Concerns about LGBTQ tourists attending the World Cup Cup have also been expressed for a long time. In the interview, Salman also said that homosexuality “is a spiritual defect.” “During the World Cup, many things will come here in the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman said in English, which is simultaneously dubbed into German in the TV segment. “The most important thing is that everyone will accept that they are coming here. But they will have to accept our rules.” The interview was interrupted by a World Cup organizing committee media official after Salman expressed his views on gays, ZDF reported. Faeser, who is also in charge of sports, said when she visited Qatar a week ago that the country’s prime minister had given her a “safety guarantee” for fans “regardless of where they come from, who they love and what they believe in”. . Fazer said that this attitude has not been changed by the prime minister, who is also Qatar’s interior minister. He plans to follow up with a trip to Germany’s World Cup opener against Japan. Last month, Germany’s ambassador to Qatar was summoned by the government there after Feser appeared to criticize the country for its human rights record. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price described the Qatari official’s remarks as “deeply troubling.” “We have a relationship with Qatar that allows us to discuss our areas of mutual interest, but also allows us to discuss what is important with the United States and the values of tolerance, diversity, respect for all people no matter who they are. or who they love,” Price said. “I suspect we’ll be dealing with that right away.”
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
