Gay man says Qatar authorities lured him via dating app, planted drugs and subjected him to unfair trial
A British-Mexican man who says he was targeted for being gay and arrested on false drug charges in Qatar has been given a suspended six-month jail sentence, a fine amounting to about $2,700, and a deportation order by a court in the Arab nation, which is a vital U.S. ally in the Middle East, according to his family and Mexican officials.
In a statement shared with media outlets by his family, dual British-Mexican national Manuel Guerrero Aviña said he was “deeply disappointed with yesterday’s unfair verdict, issued in spite of the violationsof due process during my detention and trial, which included torture and mistreatment to pressure me into revealing the names of other gay partners and forcing me to use my fingerprint to sign multiple documents in Arabic without a translator.”
“The Qatari authorities have convicted me because I am gay, and this is a breach of my human rights,” Guerrero Aviña said, adding that he was glad he could leave Qatar, but condemned what he called the “unfair trial I have been subjected to and the torture and ill treatment I endured during my preliminary detention.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, but Guerrero Aviña, who worked in the airline industry, had a home there and had lived a “normal life,” experiencing no issues with authorities until his arrest, his family said.
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