Original subtitles

MAN: The winner to organise the FIFA World Cup is... Qatar!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

For the many football fans arriving in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup,

its capital, Doha, is a glittering, modern city,

with state-of-the-art football stadiums.

TAMIM BIN HAMAD AL THANI: For the first time in the Middle East,

Qatar will be hosting the FIFA World Cup.

This edition will be a special one.

For the host nation,

it's been a unique chance to promote itself to the world,

recruiting a global superstar to help.

DAVID BECKHAM: It has surprised me with a wide range

of great experiences. It really is an incredible place.

It's a trusted ally of the UK and a major oil and gas supplier.

But behind the pristine Citadel and warm welcome

lies a very different Qatar.

This is a country of perhaps 300,000 Qatari citizens.

There is a contract with the regime and the ruled.

No-one challenges the Qataris.

It's a state where those daring to speak out

are locked up and silenced.

They threatened him with torture.

They told him, "Do you think you can see a lawyer here?

"If a lawyer comes here, we will break his leg."

Where gay and trans people tell us they are detained and beaten

and forced to undergo conversion therapy.

They paint themselves as a very tolerant society.

Meanwhile, they are aggressively hurting us at home.

And threatening us with violence if we speak up.

Where women are denied basic rights.

The male guardianship system is used to abuse women.

This level of control is a form of domestic violence.

A country that has been accused of funding terror.

Senior US Treasury Department and other officials

had been making statements, very clearly pointing at Qatar

for being a permissive environment for terrorist financing.

A place where everyone is kept under close watch.

I was being followed by two jeeps. You know, whenever I left the hotel,

I was being monitored, I was being observed.

They come and check up on you and watch over what you're doing,

and even hack your social media.

Over the past six months, we've travelled to Qatar incognito

and spoken to those who have suffered

at the hands of this repressive regime.

There is this sophistication, the opulence of Qatar,

and underlying all that is a very dark and sinister, almost medieval,

regime, which, unfortunately, cost the life of our son.

PHONE RINGS

PHONE BEEPS Failed.

I will try to reach Abdullah through the central prison in Qatar.

The last time I tried and got through to him,

it was three months ago.

He's just in prison in the middle of the desert.

PHONE RINGS

Ziyad's younger brother, Abdullah, is in prison in Qatar.

PHONE RINGS, FAILS

Ah. They are just picking up the phone and closing it.

the phone and closing it.

He's been there since 15 November 2021.

So it's almost ten months. It's crowded.

There is a problem even getting drinking water.

When I asked him to describe the situation, he just said to me,

"It's like hell."

PHONE RINGS

Ziyad says Abdullah was singled out and punished

over the stance he took when migrant workers in Qatar went on strike.

What makes Abdullah's case extraordinary is that he was once

the media manager for Qatar's Supreme Committee,

set up to deliver the World Cup.

For us, it's a severe injustice, and we cannot just accept it.

He is not there because of his wrongdoing.

He is there because somebody decided that he must be there

until the World Cup passes.

After being awarded the tournament in 2010,

Qatar's poor treatment of migrant workers

drew international criticism.

Four years later, the World Cup Supreme Committee pledged

that welfare standards would be high

for all those working on new stadiums.

But in August 2019, thousands of migrant workers

went on strike over unpaid wages and poor working conditions.

COMMOTION

The Supreme Committee was worried

that labourers from World Cup projects might be involved.

So Abdullah and a colleague went down to the protests

and spoke to some of the workers.

You have co-workers on Qatar Foundation?

You have colleagues? Have you been paid?

For how many months?

Four months, no money? At Qatar Foundation Stadium?

Among the workers Abdullah met were some who had recently finished

on World Cup stadiums and hadn't been paid.

They found out that there are almost 200 workers

on the Education City Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium.

They were part of the strike.

They were not paid their salaries for four months.

Abdullah took his evidence back to Qatar's Supreme Committee.

It wanted to put out a statement saying that none of the protesters

were working on World Cup stadiums.

Abdullah told them, "We cannot say that this has nothing to do

"with the World Cup, because there are 200 workers from Al Bayt.

"That's a false statement. We cannot say it.

"If we lie about that, it will show up at the end."

Abdullah came under increasing pressure,

with the head of the committee demanding an immediate solution.

Put a narrative on it.

Put a spin on it, if we have to sit down and use the word.

And give me a strategy, or give me an explanation.

Worker welfare, communication. I'm coming in tomorrow.

I want both of you to sit down and give me a very clear,

concise response on the situation.

Abdullah refused to change his mind.

But the committee later put out a statement that failed to acknowledge

there were World Cup workers at the protest.

He was just trying to be decent, to be sincere.

To do his professional duties.

Three months later, the Supreme Committee

made a complaint to the police against Abdullah.

Officers turned up at his work and arrested him.

He was held for 38 days.

They threatened him with torture.

They told him, "Do you think you can see a lawyer here?

"If a lawyer comes here, we will break his leg."

So he broke and signed a confession.

Because he found that he had no other way out at that time.

Abdullah was then charged with bribery

over the award of a social media contract.

A charge he's always denied.

His trial was grossly unfair.

His trial was marked by an absolute absence of evidence.

The court refused to pay attention to his allegations

that he signed his confession under duress.

And that was really the only solid evidence.

In April 2021, Abdullah was found guilty

and sentenced to five years in jail. He immediately appealed.

The Qataris insist the charges

were not linked to Abdullah's criticism of the Supreme Committee.

FIFA says it is monitoring his case closely

and everyone deserves a fair trial.

On release, pending an appeal, Abdullah contacted Benjamin Best.

He's a journalist who had exposed the exploitation

of migrant labourers working on World Cup sites.

At that point, he became a whistleblower.

He thought that it's his only chance to contact international media,

and to raise awareness about his case.

Then, one morning, Benjamin received a message.

Abdullah's wife sent me a text message,

saying that police came to their house,

and then he called me, and I recorded our phone call.

So, that was... That was his last call.

Abdullah remains in prison in Qatar.

His sentence was reduced to three years.

He has just had his third appeal rejected.

I was able to go back to Qatar in December of 2021.

I tried to visit him in jail, but I wasn't able to.

I was being followed by two jeeps.

You know, whenever I left the hotel in the morning until late at night,

I was being monitored, I was being observed.

Qatar is an autocratic country,

and it seems like Abdullah Ibhais got in the way,

and he has to pay a very high price for his criticism.

The Qatari Government and Supreme Committee told us

that Abdullah's allegations are completely false.

Raising issues is encouraged at the committee,

and its head, Mr Al Thawadi, was seeking clarification

over whether its workers were involved in the strike.

It says the committee reviewed audio and documentary evidence

before finding the complaint against Abdullah had merit

and passing it to the authorities.

But his brother, Ziyad, told us this evidence wasn't presented at court.

FIFA and the Qatari Government say

labour reforms have benefited hundreds of thousands of workers.

Abdullah Ibhais is not the only one to pay a high price

after falling foul of the Qatari authorities

in the run-up to the World Cup.

Marc is a super intelligent guy. Loved his job.

He was engaging, he would talk to everybody.

A real team player, sportsman.

Sorry, I can hear my voice already going. Sorry.

Marc Bennett was working for Discover Qatar,

part of Qatar Airways.

A leading travel expert, he was there to develop

the country's tourism ahead of the World Cup.

He was a wonderful son. So devoted to his family.

I have nothing but praise for him. And his loss is enormous.

In 2019, Marc left Qatar

after being headhunted by a company in Saudi Arabia.

It was at the height of a diplomatic crISIS

between the neighbouring countries,

but Marc believed the parting was amicable.

In October, Marc returned to Doha to finalise some paperwork.

But on the day he was due to fly home,

he stopped answering his phone.

We spoke in the morning, and he was heading off for the airport.

I was WhatsApping him throughout most of the day,

and I could see that his WhatsApps weren't going through.

Going into the evening, I still couldn't get hold of him.

I was due to pick him up that night. Just didn't know what had happened.

Marc had been asked to stop off at the head office of Qatar Airways.

There, he was questioned by police.

He was then led out, arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed

and driven to a detention centre.

And then it wasn't until the early hours of Friday

that I did get a phone call from Marc.

He phoned up to say, "Hey, Nance, it's Marc.

"I'm with the police. I'm not allowed to tell you anything."

It would be two weeks before Nancy spoke to him again.

I didn't recognise his voice. I had to ask who it was. So hoarse.

It just wasn't Marc talking.

While in detention, he says he was accused

of stealing intellectual property

to take to a competitor who was a threat to Qatar.

He was subjected to mental and physical torture.

Marc described being beaten over several days.

He said he was woken every two hours,

screamed at and interrogated

and accused of passing information to the Saudis.

It was all along the lines of how long he'd been in communication

with the Saudi company, who was he talking to,

when did they meet, how many times did they meet?

He could not understand, because he had worked so hard to promote them,

to put them on the world stage,

that he really couldn't understand why he was in this situation.

Marc was held for 25 days before being released without charge.

Had to sign a piece of paper to say that he wouldn't leave the country.

He wasn't allowed his passport, his mobile phone,

his laptop or his iPad.

A friend in Doha said Marc was left traumatised.

But without a passport, he couldn't escape the country.

There was no information. We couldn't get any information.

Lawyers couldn't get information.

The British Embassy couldn't get any information.

Over the next seven weeks, the family spoke every day,

and Marc seemed in good spirits.

Then, on Christmas Eve, there was silence.

I kept on WhatsApping him, and then I was calling.

And I didn't get any reply.

Christmas Day, at seven o'clock in the evening,

two police were on the doorstep to tell us our son had died in Qatar.

It was dreadful. And, you know...

It was the most surreal kind of moment.

I thought they must have made a mistake.

The Qatari police report says he was found hanged

and there was no trace of violence. But no suicide note was found.

A coroner in the UK concluded

there was no specific evidence of suicidal intent.

Marc would never have taken his own life.

We had such a future. We had so many plans in place.

He lived for his family. And they just meant everything to him.

There was never a question that suicide would have entered his head.

Qatar Airways told us Marc Bennett was a valued colleague

and left amicably. But evidence then came to light

he had emailed highly confidential documents

to his private email address without authorisation.

And this became a police matter.

The Qatari Government categorically denies that he was mistreated,

saying all detainees are treated with respect and dignity,

in accordance with international standards.

I don't think that we will ever have answers to precisely what happened.

There is this sophistication, the opulence of Qatar,

and underlying all that is a very dark and sinister, almost medieval,

regime, which, unfortunately, cost the life of our son.

Qatar's gleaming capital city, Doha, rises high above the desert.

But, travelling to the country covertly,

we uncover a world where people are afraid to speak out.

Kept under surveillance by powerful state security.

Here, many women's lives are controlled by laws,

customs and a hard-line interpretation of Islam.

And they enjoy few freedoms.

At the heart of it, a controversial system of guardianship

that gives male relatives, such as a father or husband,

control over women's lives.

Women in Qatar must obtain male guardianship permission to marry,

to travel abroad until certain ages,

and to obtain certain forms of reproductive healthcare.

Hanan is a young Qatari who is speaking to us anonymously,

for fear of reprisals.

She says life under the guardianship system is suffocating.

We feel trapped, like, because we can't go out alone.

For some women, the father or brother decides where she should go,

what she should study, what job they want her to do.

If a cop sees you walking, the first thing they would ask you is,

"Does your dad know you're here? Where is your dad?"

The male guardianship system is used to abuse women

and to deny them their rights. Some women talked about how

this has caused severe mental health harms towards them.

This level of control is a form of domestic violence.

The authorities have even used Qatari TV

to endorse the abuse of women.

In Qatar, there are no specific laws

to protect women and girls from domestic violence.

21-year-old Noof al-Maadeed said she was suffering abuse at home.

Noof had complained of having a very restrictive and abusive life.

She could only go to school and back.

And that was her entire life.

Noof said she went to the authorities for help,

but the abuse continued.

She told me about the failures of the authorities

when she tried to reach out to them, when she was experiencing abuse.

She felt there were no forms of protection in the country

that could save her

from the violence that she was incredibly fearful of.

And so she decided to leave.

But leaving Qatar is not easy for a young woman.

Under its guardianship rules,

women under 25 are not allowed to do so without explicit permission,

given through a government phone app.

The only way for Noof to escape

was to take her father's phone without him knowing,

so she could use his app to approve her exit permit.

She had left very early in the morning,

before somebody might have found her.

And then fled out of a window, straight to the airport.

Noof began recording a video diary.

She came to the UK, where she sought asylum.

Noof appeared on this respected Arabic news programme,

speaking out against the repression she had fled.

I really feel like she was a hero for doing that.

It was something different, that never happened before.

So I felt like, wow. Someone tried to escape the abuse.

Noof inspired women around the world,

but Rothna says that in Qatar, there was a backlash.

What the authorities did in reaction

was to start clamping down on women who might be escaping.

Women started telling me that they started to be stopped at the airport

and asked to call their guardians,

to confirm that they had guardian permission to travel abroad.

Emboldened by Noof, Hanan and others used social media

to demand rights for women.

People started to get called by the authorities.

People started to get in trouble.

So then it hit me, OK, like, it's my turn now.

Hanan says she was then called to the police station.

The room had dim lights. It just looked like an interrogation room.

Like, it's just white walls, a table, a chair.

And, yeah, that's it. No windows, nothing.

They printed off all my tweets,

and they were asking, "Why did you say this?"

When they asked me about women's rights, they were laughing.

Then they told me to delete all my tweets.

I had to sign a form saying I won't do this again.

They told me they were watching me. I couldn't hide.

Because it's my first time, I kind of felt, "OK, I'm safe."

But if you're interrogated more than once,

then I think you're in big trouble.

You'll really go to jail or detention.

Fearing for her safety,

Hanan no longer publicly campaigns for women's rights.

In Britain, despite the support she had on social media,

Noof was becoming lonely.

So when the Qatari Government gave assurances

that she would be safe from her family, she agreed to return.

When she returned, I was really scared for her safety.

If you push back against the guardians,

you will never be heard from again.

Honour killings are very popular in the Middle East.

Shortly after arriving back in Qatar, Noof disappeared.

Several sources have told us

she was admitted to a psychiatric ward

at the state-run Hamad hospital. One of Qatar's largest.

The circumstances of her admission remain unclear.

We've tracked down a psychiatrist

who worked at the hospital for years.

She's asked us to protect her identity.

She says she witnessed women and girls being admitted for treatment

simply because they had displeased their families.

It made me very angry and very upset to see patients

in the hospital that are not psychiatric patients.

If it's a woman or a girl,

if she didn't want to marry a man that they wanted her to marry,

that would warrant maybe admission to a psychiatric hospital.

If she was physically abused and then she made a fuss or a scene,

then she's crazy and she needs to go to hospital.

If she was a victim of sexual assault,

especially if it was within the family -

that cannot happen, that's never happened -

she's crazy, she needs to go to the hospital.

The doctor says she found it almost impossible

to challenge Qatari families or raise concerns.

It is a psychiatric unit.

So if that person is not ill, this is a very traumatic experience.

I've seen patients feeling very helpless.

A lot of attempted suicide,

because they can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Hamad Hospital declined to comment.

For three months, no-one heard from Noof.

Then, in January, she posted on a new Twitter account.

Noof appears to be keen to show she is fine.

But she's stopped campaigning on women's rights,

and we've been unable to speak to her in Qatar.

It was very easy for the society to push under the covers

the amount of abuse that women would sustain,

because women fear for their lives. They fear for their safety.

So they would not talk about it,

because if they do, it will be ten times worse.

The Qatari Government says

it rejects our characterisation of the position of women in Qatar,

saying it leads the Arab world in equal opportunities.

It says Qatari women have full control over their education,

employment and finances.

And guardianship rules relating to marriage and travel are limited.

It says it does not tolerate abuse

and will always seek to bring abusers to justice.

FIFA says it's committed

to a World Cup in which no-one suffers discrimination.

The Emir insists all football fans are welcome in the country.

Listen, everybody is welcome in Doha. We welcome everybody.

But also, we expect and we want people to respect our culture.

But in Qatar, homosexual relationships are punishable

by up to seven years in prison.

And many lesbian, gay and trans people told us

they are terrified of revealing their true identity,

for fear of being rejected by their families and criminalised.

They paint themselves as a very tolerant society.

Meanwhile, they are aggressively... hurting us. At home.

And threatening us with violence if we speak up.

I don't have a lot of photos,

but these were two of me when I was a kid in Qatar.

I did not feel safe.

The people around me, I think, were going to physically harm me.

Like, forget law enforcement or anything,

the second they know I'm gay...

Dr Nasser Mohammed says in Qatar, he lived in constant fear.

When the chance arose to study medicine in the United States,

he left. Only then did he finally feel safe enough

to be open about his sexuality.

There was an immediate and hostile reaction from Qataris.

This one is saying:

"Congratulations, you are the first Qatari

"to stand up and tell the world you're a faggot."

You know, the hate messages went from that to, like...

"Bro, if you're in Qatar, I will let you meet Allah."

"Stop calling yourself Qatari. You disgust us.

"I don't blame your family for disowning you."

In Qatar, our stories and our abuse happen in the shadows.

They are kept in the shadows. They are not public.

And they are not published.

We've uncovered evidence that even now,

with the World Cup just weeks away, gay and trans people

are being arrested and tortured by Qatari police.

Layla is a trans woman.

I'm treated like a criminal because I'm gay and trans.

I'm Qatari too. I'm like their brother or sister.

Don't I deserve to be treated like a human?

She has agreed to speak to us

on condition that we protect her identity.

I was wearing make-up and the police arrested me.

They interrogated me and were beating me.

They beat my genitals to force me to confess.

One officer slapped me so hard

that I could not hear anything for two days.

Afterwards, they shaved my head.

Layla says the police threatened her,

forcing her to become an informant. The police officers said

if I wanted to stay alive I need to work with them.

She was made to lead them to an underground gay party.

I went to the party. But the police came in, and people ran away.

People were jumping from everywhere trying to escape.

The police managed to arrest some people.

Why would they do this to me? I don't know.

Why would they use me as a tool against my people?

We've spoken to other gay and trans people

who have confirmed that the police use informants to entrap them.

After coming out,

I got a lot of direct stories about people being arrested.

The victims themselves reached out to me. And it broke them.

That's what happens. They completely break them, mentally.

They're having nightmares, they're having severe depression,

severe anxiety, and they are just significantly socially withdrawn.

Layla says many in the trans community are more afraid

of being caught than ever before.

I feel trapped. I feel depressed. Most people like me are suffering.

I know many people who are trying to leave. We are all going underground.

In the run-up to the World Cup, we've heard how police

have been arresting and torturing trans and gay Qataris.

We've also uncovered new evidence that so-called conversion therapy

is being carried out in state-sponsored health centres,

to cure or change gay and trans people.

It is very harmful to an LGBT person to go through conversion practices.

There is not a single medical association in the world

that endorses conversion practices with evidence.

It just does not exist.

It's a conversion practice that basically breaks a person

and attempts to break them mentally into fragments

and keep the pieces that fit society.

Several of those we've spoken to

say they have undergone conversion therapy

at the behavioural health center known as Daam.

This slick promotional film shows its state-of-the-art facilities.

But on its website, it said it treats what it calls

"behavioural perversions" and "disorders in society".

Halim is a trans man. He says that for two years,

he was forced by his school to undergo conversion therapy at Daam.

The aim of this therapy was that they knew I was gay.

They wanted to find any possible way to revert me.

Or to change me into a straight person,

as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The therapist just explained to me,

"This is a sin. You are committing a sin by doing this.

"You are going to hell." He was very frightening.

Daam is overseen by the Qatar Foundation for Social Work,

which plays an important role in delivering government policy.

It was founded by Sheikha Moza, the Emir's mother.

I'm not only a mother of my own children, but the mother

for an entire generation of youth across the Middle East.

Halim says his treatment at Daam left him traumatised.

When I had my first conversion therapy,

I remember that I was having a lot of nightmares every single day.

And they only increased as my sessions became heavier.

So the more I had, the more depressed I felt.

It's not only schools that recommend Daam's treatment.

We approached a state-sponsored family advice centre,

posing as a mother concerned about

her daughter's "inappropriate" relationship with a girl.

It referred us to Daam, saying it could draw up a plan

to treat her daughter's problems,

with psychological therapy if necessary.

LGBT individuals I interviewed

all meet the criteria for major depressive disorder,

severe panic attack disorder, anxiety disorder.

And a lot of these can be contributed

to the traumatic conversations and practices

that were done by that behavioural centre in Qatar.

In June, Sheikha Moza issued a decree

passing management of the foundation to the Government.

There is no suggestion that she or the Emir had any knowledge of,

or involvement in, the alleged gay conversion therapy at Daam.

The Qatari Government told us it does not tolerate discrimination

or operate or license any conversion centres.

It says rehabilitation centres

support people suffering from issues such as eating and mood disorders,

and operate to the highest international medical standards.

FIFA says it's confident all necessary measures

will be in place for LGBTQ+ fans to enjoy the tournament.

Qatar is an absolute monarchy.

Criticism of the regime isn't tolerated.

This is a country of perhaps 300,000 Qatari citizens.

There is a contract with the regime and the ruled.

No-one challenges the Qataris.

In 2021, new election laws

disenfranchised many of the minority Al Murrah tribe.

When they took to the streets in peaceful protest,

riot police came out in force. Some protesters were arrested,

accused of disturbing public security and other charges.

Two of their leaders were jailed.

They have been sentenced to life in prison, after a closed-door trial.

This is the approach taken

when Qataris dissent and step out of line.

You know, a peaceful protest should never be prosecuted.

Many members of the tribe have been stripped of their citizenship,

for reasons which are disputed.

It's a sanction used against political dissidents,

like Abdullah Al-Maliki, who now protests from exile.

Six years ago, Abdullah fled Qatar after speaking out.

Since then, he says he's been pursued

by the country's security services.

He's asked us not to reveal his whereabouts.

This year, he was charged in his absence

with attempting to overthrow the regime.

Charges he strenuously denies.

Despite this, he continues to demand justice

for other political dissidents who have been stripped of their rights.

Issa Al Shimari was stripped of his citizenship,

for reasons he's never understood.

In this video, Issa is pleading with the Qatari authorities

to explain why they are punishing him.

In July, in desperation, Issa sent this video to the Emir,

Issa sent this video to the Emir,

Tamim bin Hamad, as well as leading members of the Government.

A few days later, Issa was detained by the police.

The Qatari Government told us

Abdullah's comments do not reflect the true position of Qatar.

It says it's taken steps to promote participation in public life

and the World Cup will act as a catalyst for further progress.

It says most election complaints last year were resolved,

and due process was followed in criminal investigations.

Issa Al Shimari was released in September,

after being held for 62 days without charge.

There is no suggestion the Emir had any knowledge of, or involvement in,

any of these detentions.

But like others whose stories we've heard,

Issa's protests have now fallen silent.

Whilst repressing its own citizens, this tiny Gulf kingdom

has been extending its influence around the world,

using diplomacy and its wealth from oil and natural gas.

During my time in the British embassy in Doha,

the LNG terminal in Milford Haven, which the Qataris had funded,

was opened, and it was a huge event, really significant.

The conflict in Ukraine has left Britain even more dependent

on Qatar, which now supplies almost 40% of our liquefied natural gas.

So that's turned Qatar from a commercial partner

to something more significant.

And that, of course, gives it much more access

into British establishment and Number 10 Downing Street.

Its vast property portfolio in London

includes the Shard, Canary Wharf and Harrods.

But Qatar's interests

have not always sat so comfortably with the West.

Its mosques welcome controversial Islamist clerics,

including one senior preacher

who was banned from entering the UK and US for extreme views like these.

There are fears in the West

that these links to extremism have gone further.

Senior US Government advisers warned for almost a decade

that Qatar was a source of funding for terror groups.

The US Government has been aware of the various actors

that have found safe haven in Qatar. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas.

They're fundraising in Qatar.

It's sort of like the canteen scene in Star Wars.

Every bad actor you can possibly imagine, all in one place.

This is a strange thing for a country that markets itself

as an important American ally.

EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE

When civil war broke out in Syria, Qatar and Western nations

backed Sunni militant groups fighting Bashar al-Assad.

Though Qatar later joined the coalition against ISIS,

wealthy Qataris sent millions of dollars

to another extremist rebel group: Al-Nusra.

The Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.

SPEAKING OWN LANGUAGE

Qatar is at the centre of this.

Qatar has now taken its place in the lead of countries

that are supporting Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda related groups.

Senior US Treasury Department

and other officials had been making statements

very clearly pointing at Qatar for being

a permissive environment for terrorist financing.

In 2017, the former deputy director of the CIA

accused the Qatari state

of directly funding Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups.

When it got to the point that senior US intelligence officials

were publicly saying that not only was funding

coming for some of these groups from within the state of Qatar,

but some of it was from the Government, or from elements

close to the Government, that really got people's attention.

In the run-up to the World Cup, some are trying to hold Qatar to account.

Its government and other institutions are now facing

legal claims over their alleged support for terrorists.

Which they deny.

Luis Moreno Ocampo is a former chief prosecutor

of the International Criminal Court.

He's representing 16 families at the UN, victims of Al-Nusra

who are seeking compensation from Qatar.

The World Cup is the biggest event,

so the World Cup is the biggest promotional machine,

and my fear is the Syrian victims affected by a war

where Qatar has a role will be ignored,

if we are not talking now about them.

The estimation is that Qatar will make $17 billion with the World Cup.

OK. This money should help to compensate the victims

of the terrorism financing by Qatar.

Despite this, relations between Qatar

and its Western allies are growing stronger.

The Qataris have a lot of leverage with us.

We have a significant military presence in Qatar.

The Al Udeid base is probably the most crucial base

we have in the Middle East.

The Qataris have not only allowed us to operate there,

but they paid for it.

It's come to a place now where the Qataris are essentially untouchable.

They can support terrorist organisations,

and Washington shrugs.

The Qatari Government strongly denies Qatar was or is

a permissive environment for terrorist financing.

Or that it supports or provides a haven for terrorists.

It says Jonathan Schanzer and Luis Moreno Ocampo

have an ulterior motive in attacking it.

Something they strongly deny.

It says it does not tolerate hate speech,

and the late cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi

denounced Al-Qaeda and ISIS -

although it does not endorse all his views.

This month, the World Cup will finally get underway.

Fans from around the globe will pour into the stadiums.

But there are those within Qatar and outside the country

who will find little to celebrate.

Hanan is still too afraid to speak out on women's rights.

The unfairness is still going on,

but I feel like there's nothing else in my power to do.

I don't... I don't feel like I can help anyone now.

Abdullah Ibhais remains in a Qatari prison.

It's almost a year. A year for something that he did not do,

and for an incident, even, that did not take place.

Marc Bennett's family continue to search for the truth

surrounding their son's death in Doha.

There is an underbelly of darkness

that's very hard to understand and to come to terms with.

It has left us bereft of the most... incredible treasure of our lives.

And there are those who fear what will happen

when the world's attention moves on.

I am worried about what's going to happen after the World Cup,

for LGBT Qataris.

I'm worried about what is going to happen

when your cameras look the other way.