The former communications director was imprisoned a year ago for opposing the head of the Organizing Committee of the World Cup. Now his family reports that Abdullah Ibhais was tortured. She is also suing FIFA.
According to his family, whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais was tortured in prison in Qatar shortly before the start of the World Cup. Serious allegations are made in a letter from the relatives published by the human rights organization Fair Square.
According to the report, the ex-communications director of the Qatar World Cup organizing committee, who has been in prison for around a year, spent four days “in complete darkness in solitary confinement after being physically attacked”. According to the family, Ibhais was in a cell “two meters tall with a hole in the floor as a toilet and in temperatures close to freezing point”. The air conditioner was used “as an instrument of torture,” it said.
“I already had several bruises from the prison guards’ assaults and I was shaking all the time as the cold air that was directed at me never stopped,” said Ibhais, who also has his say in the letter: “I have in these hardly slept in four days.”
Before his conviction, Ibhais had opposed the head of the organizing committee of the World Cup, Hassan Al-Thawadi. He was sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly accepting bribes. His family spoke of an “arbitrary verdict” and a “mock court”.
In the letter, Ibhais’ family also addresses FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino. FIFA was “partly to blame” for Abdullah’s imprisonment, and the relatives also criticized the “silence” and “indifference” of the world association.
According to media reports, Fair Square is contacting the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in the case. FIFA and the World Cup organizing committee confirmed to the British “Guardian” that they were aware of the contents of the letter.
(This article was first published on Thursday, December 08, 2022.)