In a shocking incident, Qatari security services detained and interrogated Gilbert Ignatius, a former Qatar Airways flight attendant from Indonesia, for wearing tinted moisturizer during a birthday celebration at a luxury hotel in Doha, Qatar’s capital. The incident resulted in Ignatius losing his job and being deported from the country.
Gilbert Ignatius was celebrating his 32nd birthday with friends at the Mondrian Hotel in Doha in May when security personnel approached the group. They were then taken to a security room where Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers demanded their phones and ID cards. Ignatius objected to the officers’ actions, but they threatened to jail him if he refused to comply.
Ignatius and his friend were taken to a police station and interrogated, during which they were accused of prostitution due to the tinted moisturizer, an offense punishable in Qatar by up to ten years in prison. Such accusations are commonly used in various anti-LGBTQ+ countries to persecute LGBTQ+ individuals under false charges.
The humiliating interrogation continued into the night, with officers finding a shirtless photo of Ignatius at Bangkok Pride, further evidence of homosexuality, they claimed. Ignatius was forced to sign a document written in Arabic, which he could not understand, and was fingerprinted and photographed before being sent home.
The following day, Qatar Airways, a government-owned airline, informed Ignatius that he was grounded and confiscated his passport. Several weeks later, an airline representative escorted Ignatius and his companion to a border post near Saudi Arabia, where their passports were handed over to the police, and they were deported.
Ignatius revealed that similar incidents have been occurring in Qatar since the 2022 World Cup, with undercover police targeting people from emerging countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand in shopping centers, restaurants, clubs, and bars.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was marred by allegations of human rights abuses targeting LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies. The Qatari regime used threats and detentions to suppress public displays of support for LGBTQ+ rights during the event, leading to the silencing of planned protests by players and others. The incident involving Gilbert Ignatius highlights the worsening crackdown on LGBTQ+ identity in the country following the World Cup.