Three journalists have died in Qatar during the World Cup

The passing of Khalid al-Misslam follows the deaths of Grant Wahl and Roger Pearce. Other journalists have had notable run-ins with Qatari security forces.

Periodistas muertos en Qatar — Twitter / Voz Media

Published by

Alejandro Baños

13 de diciembre, 2022

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Khalid al-Misslam, a photojournalist for Qatari sports channel Al Kass TV, died last Saturday while covering the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. He is the third journalist, along with Grant Wahl and Roger Pearce, to have passed away while covering the tournament.

Gulf Times reported the news of al-Misslam's death, although the cause of death has not yet been disclosed:

Roger Pearce and Grant Wahl

Roger Pearce was the first World Cup journalist to die while working in Qatar. The death of Pearce, who was technical director of the British channel ITV Sports, occurred on Nov. 21 before the broadcast of the match between Wales and the United States. One of the network's presenters, Mark Pougatch, mourned the death of his colleague:

We have some very sad news to bring you from here in Qatar. Our technical director, Roger Pearce, who was here for his eighth World Cup, sadly passed away. Roger was a highly respected figure in the sports broadcasting industry. For ITV he was instrumental in the logistical planning and coverage of the Rugby World Cup, Football World Cup and European Championships. He always had a smile on his face and left a smile on your face.

On Dec. 9, U.S. sports journalist Grant Wahl collapsed and died of unknown causes while in the press box during the Argentina-Netherlands game. Eric Wahl, the reporter's brother, believes that he was murdered. In addition, Eric Wahl claimed that his brother had received death threats days earlier for wearing a rainbow-colored shirt defending gay rights:

My brother was healthy. He told me he received death threats. I do not believe my brother just died. I believe he was killed. And I just beg for any help ... I am gay. I'm the reason he wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup.

Qatar's incidents with journalists

Victor Pereira, a freelance journalist working for the International Paralympic Committee, reported that Qatari police chased him for carrying a flag of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, which includes a rainbow similar to that of the LGBT flag:

Pereira claimed that they took the flag out of his hands and stepped on it and forced him to delete the video:

They even took the Pernambuco flag, threw it on the ground and stepped on it. When some people intervened and alleviated the situation. The video in which I record what they did with the flag was FORCED to be deleted!

Arrested for alleged trespassing on private property

On the other hand, Rasmus Tantholdt, a journalist for Danish public television station TV 2, had an incident with Qatari security forces in the middle of a live broadcast when they refused to let him record on camera.

In 2021, Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani, two journalists from the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, were jailed for 32 hours for alleged trespassing as they were about to record a report on the World Cup. Ekeland shared the story of their arrest:

We interview the chairman at length after a ceremony, and return to our hotel at noon to fetch our equipment. We are then approached by five or six men who identify themselves as police and take us to the station. We are questioned for eight hours in separate rooms, one at a time.