A dual British-Mexican citizen who had been based in Doha, Qatar up until his arrest on charges of “possession of illegal substances” says he was entrapped by a catfishing operation after setting up a date with another man on Grindr only to find local cops waiting for him who then planted a small amount of meth on him during the arrest on the charge, CBS News reports.
Manuel Guerrero Aviña said he’s “deeply disappointed with yesterday’s unfair verdict, issued in spite of the violations of due process during my detention and trial, which included torture and mistreatment to pressure me into revealing the names of other gay partners and forcing me to use my fingerprint to sign multiple documents in Arabic without a translator. The Qatari authorities have convicted me because I am gay, and this is a breach of my human rights,” blasting the “unfair trial I have been subjected to and the torture and ill treatment I endured during preliminary detention.”
The not-that-bad news is that Guerrero Aviña was sentenced to a six month suspended sentence, a roughly $2,750 fine, and deportation from Qatar. Not hard to imagine the guy was careful when chatting on Grindr and didn’t write anything that was incriminating in regard to liability over “indecency” or whatever the “moral authorities” in those countries use, leading them to rig the meth charge as a means of punishing him indirectly for being who he is where he isn’t welcome.