Abdullah Ibhais, a former media manager for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which organized the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, has spoken out about the ongoing punishment he faces for revealing the mistreatment of migrant workers during the tournament. Despite serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, Ibhais claims he is still being targeted for his activism.
Background of the Case
In 2017, Ibhais witnessed a strike by migrant workers in Al-Shahaniyah, a town on the outskirts of Doha. The workers, who were building World Cup stadiums, had not received salaries for months and lacked basic necessities like food and water. His superiors instructed him to issue a statement denying that the strikers were involved in World Cup projects, but Ibhais refused, choosing instead to speak out about the workers' plight.
As a result, he was charged by Qatari state security with leaking defense secrets and conspiring with foreign countries to undermine the World Cup. He was eventually convicted of corruption and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention later deemed his detention arbitrary and his trial unfair. FIFA did not intervene, instead declaring the tournament "the best World Cup ever."
Recent Developments
Four years after the World Cup, as the 2026 tournament approaches, Ibhais thought he would be free to speak. However, two weeks ago, he was stopped at Amman airport in Jordan, where his passport was confiscated. Intelligence officers warned him to cease all public mention of Qatar 2022, his case, or workers' conditions, or face imprisonment similar to his ordeal in Qatar.
Ibhais had been scheduled to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum and provide testimony for a US federal court investigating human trafficking related to the World Cup. Instead, he found himself in an interrogation room, reliving his past imprisonment.
Personal Statement
Ibhais describes himself as "a nobody" without political connections, wealth, or power. He emphasizes that his only asset is his truth: that the 2022 World Cup was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of migrant workers. He recalls the joy when Qatar was awarded the tournament, the first Arab nation to host it, but was shocked to see the suffering of workers who risked deportation by striking.
He calls on fans to watch the upcoming World Cup without ignoring the true cost of the tournament. "The true story of what happened to workers building the World Cup infrastructure in Qatar must be told and understood by FIFA and everyone, so it will not be repeated," he writes.
Official Responses
Qatar has previously stated that Ibhais was jailed for soliciting bribes, not for speaking out, and that no World Cup workers were involved in the strike. FIFA has said it spoke to Ibhais but did not comment on his jailing or allegations. Ibhais denies soliciting bribes.
