Qatar denies bail to Mexican man arrested for being gay

The Qatari justice system refused to grant bail to Manuel Guerrero, a Mexican man detained 46 days ago in the Arab country for being homosexual, as reported this Thursday from Mexico by his brother, Enrique Guerrero.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
14 March 2024 Thursday 17:13
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Qatar denies bail to Mexican man arrested for being gay

The Qatari justice system refused to grant bail to Manuel Guerrero, a Mexican man detained 46 days ago in the Arab country for being homosexual, as reported this Thursday from Mexico by his brother, Enrique Guerrero.

Enrique explained in a press conference that his brother does not receive the anti-HIV medications he needs, despite claims by activists for the rights of the LGBTIQ community and his relatives, who ask the embassies of the United Kingdom and Mexico —Manuel has dual nationality—an urgent intervention.

With the current status of the case, according to his brother, Manuel will remain in prison for at least 30 more days.

Manuel Guerrero was arrested in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on February 4 after attending a meeting arranged through a famous dating application (Grindr) and being received there by the Qatari police.

It was the Qatari authorities themselves who created a false profile and told Manuel to go with more people from the LGBTI community. A Moroccan man who arrived shortly after was also arrested and remains imprisoned to this day. In addition, both were allegedly given methamphetamine to frame them.

Now, having received psychological torture, Manuel spends many hours without food or water and is not allowed to cut his hair or nails because they say they believe that doing so could infect other people in the prison with HIV.

The case has provoked outrage from LGBTI groups, who demand that the governments of the United Kingdom and Mexico intercede for Manuel.