King Charles and Starmer criticised over Emir of Qatar state visit

King Charles and prime minister Keir Starmer have been criticised by an LGBTQ+ foundation for hosting a state visit from the emir of Qatar, a country where queer people face persecution. 

Visiting Qatari royals were welcomed by the king and the Prince and the Princess of Wales on Tuesday (3 December), with Queen Camilla also taking part in events at Buckingham Palace.

The state visit was set to include a private lunch at the palace, a visit to the Houses of Parliament and a state banquet, the BBC reported.

Qatar criminalises LGBTQ+ people

LGBTQ+ people are criminalised under the penal code, and consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment in Qatar.

The country also operates an interpretation of Sharia law that criminalises sexual intimacy between queer men, who can face the death penalty as a result.

In response, the Peter Tatchell Foundation staged a protest, condemning the Gulf nation’s “appalling abuse of human rights of women, LGBTs and migrant workers”. 

Protestors chanted: “Qatar is anti-gay. Shame.”

Foundation director Tatchell said: “Keir Starmer and King Charles should not reward the emir with the honour of a state visit while his regime continues to victimise women, LGBTs and migrant workers. Feting the emir is collusion with tyranny. 

“The Qatar government is a police-state dictatorship. It’s guilty of systemic homophobia, sexism and the suppression of workers’ rights and basic freedoms like free speech and the right to protest.”

Tatchell added that the visit “sends the wrong message” that “the UK prioritises trade and investment over human rights,” while it should be “challenging Qatar’s human rights record and seeking the release of political prisoners, not rewarding its ruler with royal pageantry and red carpets”. 

In September, Starmer failed to mention issues affecting LGBTQ+ people in his first Labour Party Conference speech as prime minister. 

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