This saga concerning the 2022 World Cup and Qatar keeps getting more interesting by the day. In a an attempt to keep some of the issues surrounding the building of stadiums in Qatar and some of the labor dangers that the workers are going under, Qatar government officials are doing their best to keep that information under wraps. According to Marissa Payne of the Washington Post, government officials in Qatar arrested a team of journalists from Germany who were in Qatar filming a documentary that was said to be critical of the world cup.
A group of journalists was arrested and detained in Qatar while filming a documentary critical of the FIFA World Cup: http://t.co/aZGKFH2Lee
— Marissa Payne (@MarissaPayne) May 5, 2015
Reporters Without Borders condemned the Qatari government’s actions on Tuesday, noting the reason for the German reporters’ arrest and detainment was because they were accused of filming without permission.
“The government in Doha has to ensure that foreign journalists can investigate critical topics such as the situation of human rights in Qatar unhindered,” said Christian Mihr, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders’ German section said in a statement. “Since Qatar is seeking the international spotlight with this international sports event, it will have to face up to a critical global public.”
There was a December report from the Gurdian that stated there were Nepalese workers who were dying at a rate of one worker every two days in an effort to get the facilities ready for an event taking place in 2022.
Arrested in #Qatar . Police,public prosecutor & intelligence involved. http://t.co/o7DkXRnZZu @FIFAcom @FIFAWorldCup 2022 @Qatar2022_WFC
— Florian Bauer (@FloBauerAuthor) May 4, 2015