‘Saudi Arabia hosting the World Cup is sportswashing’

With death threats a daily reality, Dr Nas Mohamed can draw on experience when he accuses FIFA of ‘sportswashing’ the truth behind its latest World Cup extravaganza in the Middle East.

The only globally visible LGBTQ+ person from Qatar expects to never return to the land of his birth after finding asylum in California.

He had lived in fear of the state before leaving for good due to the threat from those around him, should they find out his true identity. 

Now the only openly gay Qatari with a global profile, the 37-year-old is a focal point for those forced to ‘live in silence, in the shadows’ and a vocal critic of FIFA, which confirmed on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia will be 2034 World Cup hosts.

He is speaking out despite death threats which he tells Metro are ‘just a reality’ for people in his position, although two led him to contact police in his home state.

The advocate’s work has included founding the Alwan Foundation, which represents LGBTQ people in the Gulf and has a non-binary Saudi who fled the wealthy country on its staff.  

‘I have a mixed reaction to the award of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia,’ Dr Nas says. 

‘On the one hand, we have another platform to raise awareness of what is happening to the LGBTQ community in the Gulf states, while at the same time I am quite disappointed that a lot of people have learned nothing from Qatar. Nothing has changed since the last World Cup.

‘In fact, I would say things are worse for LGTBQ Qataris in Qatar.

‘Where are the voices that were trying to speak out for them?  

‘The Alwan Foundation is the only organisation continually working on these patterns of persecution and it’s the reason we are able to produce our report and help people who need support, including in the UK. 

‘I can see the argument that this could be a vehicle for change, which David Beckham has been associated with.

‘But there needs to be pressure to hold the relevant entities accountable.’ 

FIFA’s confirmation, essentially a coronation as Saudi Arabia had emerged as the sole bidder for the games — a huge undertaking involving 48 teams in a single country for the first time — comes despite human rights concerns about the desert kingdom. 

Same-sex relations in King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s nation are punishable by the death penalty under a system of Sharia law, according to the House of Commons Library.  

A report released by Dr Nas’s foundation cites the case of activist Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to a year in prison by the Saudi authorities for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights on X.

He has since sought asylum in the US and now works for the organisation.

In the UK, the Football Association has stated that the Saudi Football Federation has provided assurances that the country will be ‘safe and welcoming’ for everyone — including LGBTQ+ fans.  

Dr Nas’s account of the country’s own citizens who are forced to hide ‘in the shadows’ does not bode well for tolerance.

Two years after the dazzling World Cup closing party at the Lusail Stadium, he still does not know of any other openly gay Qataris.

‘An LGBTQ person in the Gulf is trapped in a dimension where they’re not seen by any existing system,’ Dr Nas says.

‘They face repressive laws and social norms, and they struggle to access healthcare, to assemble and to reach out for help.

‘The laws in Saudia Arabia are in direct violation of all international human rights laws. FIFA might have given assurances over LGBTQ fans but I’m not going to allow them to use the World Cup to sportswash the reality; that they are severely persecuted and living in silence, in the shadows.’ 

In the 2022 World Cup year, Dr Nas was trolled for his views and identity and apparently blocked on Instagram by David Beckham — although he did receive supportive private messages from people in the Middle East.

Undeterred, his social media profile has included appearing in a risque Pride outfit crossing Arab robes with pink carnival wear and he continues to conduct research into LGBTQ rights in the Gulf.

‘If we sit in the same room as the abuser and stay silent we are effectively telling them that their behaviour is tolerated on a global level,’ Dr Nas says.

‘So I’m gearing up to show up in a stronger way than I did in 2022, with data, with facts, not just aimed at Saudi Arabia but everyone, everywhere who enabled this, especially FIFA.  

‘No one is regulating FIFA while it takes the World Cup to parts of the world where human rights are crushed while our group, a public voice for those in the shadows, receives no funding at all from a sports business worth billions of dollars. We organise dinner parties to help raise funds.’  

An academically gifted teenager, Dr Nas grew up in rural Qatar and in 2015 began to travel back and forth between his homeland and Weill Medical College in New York. 

Although he lived in fear of the state, where same-sex relations are illegal, the most immediate threat was from those around him who would have taken a sense of shame if they had discovered his true identity.  

After moving to the US for his safety, he connected with various international groups to help members of the community in the Middle East with asylum claims. 

The campaigner stepped out of the shadows in his adopted country after an anxious build up which included taking security precautions.

The move came at great personal cost.

Even in San Francisco, where he runs Osra Medical practice, he believes that ‘the threat of death is not zero’ after the news was ill-received by some in the conservative emirate he left behind. 

The medic, who left for the US in 2011, returning home only once three years later, is not in touch with his family and believes security concerns would now keep them away.

‘I’m used to the death threats now, and although my therapist is a little concerned I’ve stopped reacting to them,’ he says.

‘There are different levels, some of which could be categorised as online bullying but there were two incidents where I needed to activate the local police in San Francisco.  

‘I got to learn a lot more about staying safe and I learned from the LGBTQ community here that anyone who has enough reach will reach hate too, they will get death threats.  

‘That is the reality for us.’ 

Dr Nas says one of the biggest changes in his life was after the 2022 World Cup, where early signals of tolerance by the hosts were followed by more hardline statements nearer the competition and the blocking of players’ ‘OneLove’ rainbow armbands by FIFA.  

The physician, who is also a board member on San Francisco Pride, was one of the most prominent LGBTQ advocates to speak out on human rights, which drew support from different corners.

‘A lot of conversations were opened up after the World Cup and a lot of people who were in silos were able to meet,’ he says.

‘I’m hoping the build up to 2034 will continue bridging people who want positive change, as sports, music, fashion and food are examples of things which bring people together.’ 

Dr Nas is conscious of homophobia in his adopted nation, where Donald Trump’s presidency is incoming, but maintains that the next ten years will not see him silenced on LGBTQ issues, home or abroad.  

‘We have a lot of empathy in the United States after the Trump re-election,’ he says. ‘We are sending the message that persecution and homophobia will not be tolerated anywhere in the world.’ 

Metro has contacted FIFA and the Saudi Football Federation for comment.

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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