The family of a gay British-Mexican man held in Qatar for alleged drug offences has given further details of what they say was a “honeytrap” operation using the gay dating app, Grindr.
Manuel Guerrero Aviña was approached online by a man called “Gio” and they arranged to meet - but he was instead met by police and arrested on false drug charges, Manuel’s brother Enrique told the BBC.
Manuel, who has HIV, has now completely run out of his usual medication, his family says. They want the UK government to bring him back home for treatment.
Amnesty International has described Manuel’s experience in detention as “nothing short of horrific” and says that his trial was “marred by a range of due process violations.” Its concerns are echoed by other human rights organisations the BBC has spoken to.
I really don’t want to victim blame, but people really have to be careful when travelling.
Not every country is as liberal as the West.
Otto Warmbier
Brittany Griner
And now this guy.
He wasn’t a traveler, he lived there. Expecting every gay man who lives in Qatar to remain celibate is ludicrous.
That’s even worse! Why would you live in a country whose government actively wants you dead?!
Because that’s where his job sent him? I don’t know. I’m sure he had a good reason.
Feels like the world has become less open. A few years ago, I would have visited just about any country. But, there are more and more I just won’t visit now. I just don’t want to end up a political prisoner in some janky country with an axe to grind with the US. Or, there are literal wars happening there.