Attend the world Cup and get 100 lashes and 7 years in prison
By Patrick O’Heffernan
By now, you have probably heard of Paola Schietekat Sedas, a Mexican citizen working for the World Cup Organizing Committee in Qatar. If you haven’t heard about her, it is an appalling story with a warning for the soccer loving world, especially Mexicans.
Schietekat Sedas had to be spirited out of Qatar on June 25 last year after being raped by one if her fellow World Cup staffers, a Columbian. She reported the rape to the police the next day, accompanied by the Mexican Consul. When asked by the police if she wanted to press charges, on the advice of the Counsel, she said yes. That’s where things got appalling.
She went from victim to criminal, charged with the crime of sex outside of marriage. The police demanded she take a virginity test (after being raped???) and demanded to search her phone for romantic messages with the rapist or anyone else. She was arrested and charged with extramarital relations, a crime punishable by 100 lashes and 7 years in prison.
She was released pending trial, and the World Cup Organizing Committee snuck her out of the country. The Mexican Foreign Ministry will defend her at trial in absentia, but, needless to say, she’s not coming back to her job. She also noted that the Mexican Embassy in Qatar had no Arab speakers and no knowledge of Qatari law and could not be helpful.
The incident is a warning to anyone, especially Mexicans, who plan to attend the World Cup. If you were thinking of spending an exciting week sharing a hotel room with your girlfriend or boyfriend seeing the Cup live, forget it – 100 lashes and 7 years in prison. If you are gay, 3 years in jail. No kissing, drinking, dancing, hugging, or shorts in public.
How did a country that treats women like a cross between livestock and sex slaves, that jails gay people, that brutally whips girls who are raped, get the world Cup in the First Place? According to the US Justice Department, they did it with massive bribes to FIFA officials.
After years of investigations into corruption, abuse of migrant workers and women and other human rights crimes, on April 6, 2020, the Justice Department indicted three media executives and a sports marketing company for bribing FIFA officials. How much money are we talking about? A cool $400 million was offered to FIFA for “broadcasting rights” 21 days before FIFA announced that Qatar will hold the 2022 World Cup.
So here we are, 7 months from the Cup; a Mexican woman is on trial for the crime of being raped and threatened with a brutal, potentially fatal beating and 7 years in jail, and a Mexican Embassy unequpped to deal with local authorities and whose advice got her indicted.
The Mexican government needs to shape up and step in.
The President should issue a warning to its citizens not to attend the World Cup, especially if they are single, gay, or a male looking for a good time (no prostitutes and booze only in your hotel or a restricted fan area) or a married or single woman who can be raped with impunity and beaten and jailed for reporting it. Other Latin countries should issue the same warning. Defending Schietekat Sedas in the Qatar kangaroo court is a good first step, but México needs to train the Embassy staff in Qatar to protect its citizens from a vicious 12th century government.
Westerners attending the World Cup will be abused by the Qatar government; it is their law and their culture. Unwitting gays, cohabiting couples, and errant beer drinkers will be caught and punished, some violently. It is inevitable, given Schietekat Sedas’s treatment. The Mexican government needs to honor Schietekat Sedas by telling its citizens and those of other Latin countries don’t attend the World Cup. It’s on TV here with beer, tequila and your significant other.
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