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Status: 15.11.2022 6:00 p.m
Shortly before the World Cup, Qatar presents itself as a benefactor, with donations for the flood-damaged Ahr Valley. research by Report Mainz show: Qatar wanted to prevent criticism, even with the help of football officials.
A rewarding PR appointment: children smiling at the cameras. The second secretary of the Qatari Embassy, Ahmad Al-Hay, visits the small town of Hönningen in the Ahr Valley. This was devastated by the flood in July 2021.
The Emirate of Qatar donated one million euros to a foundation of the Rhineland Football Association. For this purpose, mini soccer fields are to be built in the Ahr Valley. The first will be inaugurated last Sunday. Walter Desch helped plan the appointment. He is the chairman of the foundation to which the money went.
He shows a lot of understanding for his guest this morning, also with regard to allegations of human rights violations in Qatar that have been raised in many media. “I noticed and informed myself that women do have rights, too,” Desch calls out on the open stage. “And also in managerial positions, as I’ve seen.” The embassy secretary nods. It couldn’t be any better.
“They wanted good press”
Desch says he has worked intensively on Qatar. He still remembers the first conversation with representatives of the Qatari embassy: the men spoke perfect German and wore suits.
The high-profile events in the Ahr Valley were particularly important to the Qatari diplomats. That’s how he got it: “They wanted good press and of course they wanted it too, that was an important point, that we then represent Qatar very positively for the World Cup.” He got involved and wanted the money for the flood-damaged Ahr Valley. When asked whether he had made himself an instrument of a Qatari PR, he replies “yes” and he “accepts that”.
Warning about Qatar and the country’s PR work
Qatar has an image problem. Human rights organizations speak of poor working and living conditions, of gays and lesbians who fear for their freedom in the rich desert state.
Expert Mansour warns that Qatar wants to cleanse its image.
Image: dpa
Ahmad Mansour, an extremism expert and author, warns that the emirate is still a center for political Islam: “We mustn’t forget that political Islam is Islamism, and its goal in Europe is to infiltrate our society as well,” says he. The country is investing a lot of money in PR and lobbying work in order to wash itself clean of all this now before the World Cup.
Lobbyists on behalf of Qatar in Germany
The Qataris also had help in the Ahr Valley. Desch remembers: During the talks about the donation in the Ahr valley, there was always another man present: the manager of a well-known lobby agency. Desch claims that he helped arrange the deal. The lobbyist is also there on Sunday. When asked, he stated that he did not want to comment on mandates.
The second secretary of the Qatari embassy, Al-Hay, was present at the inauguration of the soccer field in the Ahr Valley, which attracted a great deal of attention from the media.
Image: David Meiländer/ SWR
The donation for the Ahr Valley was about something else: the money that Qatar donated went to the “Football Helps!” Foundation, the former “Theo Zwanziger Foundation”, originally named after the former DFB President, a the most well-known critics of Qatar. In the past he had described the Gulf state as “the cancer of world football”.
According to documents belonging to the ARD-political magazine Report Mainz are available, the aim was to get Zwanziger not to comment critically on the Gulf State’s donation to the Rhineland Football Association Foundation.
Critical statements “absolutely counterproductive”
A memo from a meeting on March 30, 2022 between Qatari diplomats and the Rhineland Football Association stated that a critical statement by Zwanzig was “absolutely counterproductive” for Qatar’s commitment. There is a risk of a “communicative interference fire”. According to the document, it was then decided to have an interview with Zwanziger “to find out whether he would be prepared not to make any critical statements in the media about these activities”.
The President of the Rhineland Football Association, Eibes, said Report Mainz, he met Zwanziger a few days later. He didn’t put Zwanzer under pressure, just asked him about his attitude to the donation deal: “I just asked him how he would behave if the foundation accepted the money. And he then replied that he – since he have nothing to do with the foundation – would not comment on it either.”
In addition to his position in the Rhineland Football Association, Eibes is also the District Administrator of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district. Twenty left questions from Report Mainz unanswered. He occasionally expressed criticism of the donation in the Ahr valley. The Qatari embassy also did not respond to questions from Report Mainz.