Faced with criticism from Western Europe as the 2022 World Cup approaches, which begins on Sunday, Qatar has raised its voice on the media and diplomatic scene, going so far as to open the door to legal proceedings.
The secretary general of the Organizing Committee, Hassan Al-Thawadi, estimated on Tuesday, on the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, that these criticisms were “due to the fact that Qatar is an Arab country which has been able to play as an equal to equal and to snatch the organization” from the tournament.
In an interview with the local newspaper Al Sharq, a leader of the Qatari Football Federation, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Thani, rejoiced at the “presence of the enemy […] because it pushes you to do your job to the best of your ability. »
Accused by NGOs of human rights violations, the small Gulf emirate has long been content to repeat that “everyone will be (it) welcome” and to reproach its critics for not going there to have some. a pure heart.
A speech by the Emir, delivered less than a month before the opening of the tournament, marked a turning point, soon followed by the summons of the German ambassador to Doha.
” Discrimination “
“Initially, we treated this subject in good faith and we even considered that certain criticisms were positive and useful”, affirmed Sheikh Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani on October 25 before the Parliament of Qatar.
“But it soon became clear to us that the campaign persists, expands, that there is slander and double standards, reaching a level of relentlessness that has led many to question, unfortunately, the real reasons and motivations of this campaign”, protested the emir.
For the Minister of Labour, interviewed by AFP in early November, these motivations are partly “racist”. “They don’t want to allow a small country, an Arab country, a Muslim country, to organize the World Cup,” said Ali ben Samikh Al-Marri.
This is also what the Emir had suggested at the Davos Economic Forum in May, deploring that his country is the victim of “discrimination” because some, he added, “cannot accept that an Arab country and Muslim” is organizing a World Cup.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, on tour in Europe, took over in interviews granted to the British television channel Sky News and to the French daily newspapers Le Monde and German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“There is a lot of hypocrisy in these attacks […] peddled by a very small number of people, in ten countries at most”, assured Mohammed ben Abderrahmane Al-Thani. “Football belongs to everyone. It is not a club reserved for elites. »
Last Sunday, during the naming ceremony of one of the boat-hotels of the World Cup, the powerful leader of Qatar Airways Akbar Al-Baker denounced “all the negative publicity orchestrated in the press” against his country.
” Arrogance “
On the diplomatic scene, Qatar has come to the point of reprisals: on October 28, the German ambassador in Doha was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to respond to critical remarks made by its Minister of the Interior and Sport .
For a European diplomat in Doha, the authorities of the host country “have had enough”. “They blame us although very little criticism comes from governments,” he added on condition of anonymity.
Regularly questioned by the European media, whose criticisms range from the treatment of migrant workers to the supposed ban on holding hands in public, Qatar is now also considering a judicial response.
Suspected of spying as part of the organization of the World Cup in an investigation published by the British daily The Sunday Times, the emirate said it was studying “all legal options” against the authors of “baseless allegations”.
Local media support the response. Al-Sharq retorts that such an anti-Qatar campaign “confirms the arrogance of some Western countries who think that organizing the World Cup should remain their monopoly”.