Briton in Qatar ‘sting' faces 'deportation without justice'

A British-Mexican man who said he was tortured by Qatari authorities after being arrested in a Grindr sting is now facing deportation without justice, his family say.

- TARA COBHAM

Manuel Guerrero Avina’s family also claimed his life was endangered as he was denied essential HIV medication when he was arbitrarily detained for more than six weeks in Qatar. They said Manuel was finally charged 78 days after his arrest on 4 February with allegedly false drug charges, all of which the 45year-old strongly denies.

Amnesty International, FairSquare and the National Aids Trust are among those demanding Manuel’s subsequent conviction be quashed, calling his trial before the Al Sadd Criminal Court in Doha “grossly unfair” and believing the Qatari authorities are using the case to stigmatise and criminalise LGBT+ people in a country known for its harsh laws against that community. James Lynch, co-director of FairSquare, and Deborah Gold, CEO of National Aids Trust, called on the UK government to step in.

Manuel, who used to live in Ealing in west London, was sentenced on 4 June to a suspended six-month prison term and a fine, according to his family – and they say he now faces being deported from Qatar without first getting justice.

Speaking to The Independent this week, Manuel’s brother Enrique, 39, said: “It’s very unfair because my brother is detained because he’s gay, he was tortured because of his sexual orientation and HIV-positive status. We are still fighting and we will fight for justice and for the absolute freedom of Manuel.”

Manuel, who has been a project manager for Qatar Airways in Doha for seven years, was reportedly arrested by plain-clothed security officials shortly after he agreed to meet a man through the dating app Grindr.

Enrique, a human rights lawyer based in Mexico City, believes the online profile of the person his brother agreed to meet was fake and had been created by law-enforcement officials to entrap him.