Qatar

How a whistleblower exposed the dark truth of Qatar’s World Cup.

In November two NRK journalists in Qatar were arrested for trespassing. But was that a diversion to hide the real reason: to prevent the publication of an interview NRK did with Head of Qatar 2022’s Supreme Committee Hassan Al-Thawadi about Abdullah Ibhais just prior to their arrest?

The hunger striking whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais has been denied salt by his prison guards. Meanwhile the Supreme Committee has asked his lawyer to step down and, if not, warning him that representing Ibhais will damage his career.

Abdullah Ibhais has gone on a hunger strike. His family has issued a statement calling on Fifa to put pressure on Qatar authorities for a just trial and his immediate release.

On the morning of Sunday 7 November 2021 Josimar received a letter from the Norwegian law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig representing the Qatar 2022 organising committee (The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy) claiming our article “The trial of Abdullah Ibhais” was defamatory in nature and in violation of several laws.

Was he sentenced to five years in prison on trumped-up charges because he was defending migrant workers in Qatar? And was all this orchestrated by his former employer, The Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy, the organisation responsible for the 2022 World Cup?

The US capital is hosting an anti-Qatar conference this week. The programme is secret and it’s an invitation-only event. The organisers – the Middle East Forum – say that it’s not open to the public, citing security reasons. And lurking in the shadows is Jaimie Fuller, co-founder of New Fifa Now.

Is the UEFA president unduly interfering in the Icelandic elections? Aleksander Čeferin gives vocal support to candidate Guðni Bergsson to Icelandic media while insinuating that Iceland will struggle within UEFA if Bergsson’s opponent is elected.