By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – A Swiss television network is to launch an official complaint to FIFA after two of its journalists were detained in Qatar for 13 days for filming a report on the 2022 World Cup hosts.
Radio Television Suisse (RTS) says the incident was a “serious violation of press freedom”.
RTS reporter Christophe Cerf and cameraman Yvan Thorimbert were allegedly stopped on April 1, handcuffed and interrogated at two police stations.
The network says a judge in Doha subsequently fined the journalists, confiscated their camera and stopped them leaving the country until Switzerland’s Ambassador in Kuwait intervened successfully on their behalf.
The episode is an unwanted embarrassment both for FIFA President Sepp Blatter and, especially, Mohamed Bin Hammam, his challenger for the top job in world football and also a Qatari citizen.
The television network insists its team received no proper explanation as to why they had been detained.
The crew had apparently been told ahead of time that they could film “freely” while on location in Qatar.
“The arbitrary conduct of the Qatari police constitutes a serious violation of press liberty,” said Massimo Lorenzi, head of sports at RTS.
There was no immediate response from the Qatari authorities but the incident highlights the sensitivity towards perceived Western criticism of the Gulf state’s credentials for staging the World Cup.
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