Authorities in Qatar detained two journalists on Norwegian State TV for more than 30 hours and erased some of the footage they recorded at a migrant worker camp as they attempted to report on the problematic situation of these workers during preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Qatari government accused NRK journalists Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani of “trespassing on private property” and “shooting without a permit”. The two returned to Norway on Wednesday following their arrest. Journalists claim to have obtained verbal permission from those they were filming.
These arrests sparked a diplomatic dispute between Norway and Qatar. Norwegian news agency NTB reported that the Qatari ambassador was summoned by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniksen Huitfeld in connection with the case.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr called the arrests “unacceptable”.
“A free press is crucial in a democracy,” Gahr wrote on Twitter. It also demonstrates the importance of having awarded the most recent Nobel Peace Prize to journalists. I am very happy that Halvor Ekeand and Lokman Ghorbani have now been released. “
“Freedom of the press is necessary for democracy and is also fundamental to ensuring respect for human rights,” Minister Huitfeld said in a statement sent to NRK.
These arrests, one year before the World Cup, demonstrate how sensitive the autocratic government of Qatar is. Other journalists have also been detained following reporting across the country.
Ekeland, a sports journalist, and Ghorbani, a photographer, were in a small country in the Middle East as the latter highlighted the 365 days before the opening of the 2022 World Cup.
“They got all the permissions they needed to conduct their interviews,” NKR boss Thor Gjermund Eriksen said at the organization’s headquarters in Oslo.
Ekeland said they did not have written permission to film on private property, but people there had given their consent. Plainclothes officers later showed up at their hotel and asked them to follow them to a police station.
“We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to shoot, but we had been invited by the World Cup organizers to shoot a report and several other media were there as well,” Ekeland said.
The agents had “a very rude tone and wanted (us) to intimidate”, added Ekeland, while specifying that they had not been threatened or that these agents had not resorted to violence.
“We find that we have been treated well,” he said.
Journalists told NRK that they were unable to leave the country with their equipment. The Norwegian Journalists Union and the Norwegian Football Association have both criticized their arrest.
The Qatari government said the two men were arrested following a complaint from an unidentified owner of a housing estate in the country’s industrial zone, where the labor camps are located. He said Ekeland had applied for a filming permit, but the authorities did not grant it until he visited the site.
Qatar, like other Arab states in the Persian Gulf where freedom of expression is very strictly regulated, requires journalists to be licensed to do their jobs.
“As in most countries, trespassing is against Qatari law, which members of this film crew were well aware of before entering this property,” the statement read. The footage shot during this intrusion was erased by the authorities, as required by the laws of Qatar. “
Asked by the Associated Press about Qatar’s comments regarding its journalists, the NRK responded in a statement that it disagreed with these claims and that its journalists “behaved according to journalistic principles and ethics.”
“Even if the Qatari authorities believe that these journalists have violated any law, the treatment received is unacceptable, argued the NRK. The detention of these journalists and the confiscation of their equipment are completely out of proportion. This poses a threat to free and independent journalism and casts a cold shower on all journalists visiting Qatar. “
Qatar hosts the US Army Central Command. He has been the subject of special attention in the way he treats foreign workers since he obtained the rights to host the 2022 World Cup.