Brian Whitaker, Reporting for Qatar.
Posted by Adam
L. Conner
We in the more developed world, support freedom of
speech & freedom of the press, but disregard the ethics of journalism. One
is obliged to question the sources and objective of articles in order to
produce sound journalistic work. The British phone hacking scandal is an
example of when unethical journalism can evade privacy and pursue illegal
activity. The News of the World was shut down and the Government ordered the
Leveson Inquiry in order to learn from the mistakes of the past. The report
concluded that there was illegal surveillance of people in a clear violation of
journalistic ethical principles and human decency.
As I was working on an investigative report on illegal
journalist practices, I stumbled across a very mysterious figure. He has an
untarnished public image, in the Middle East and Europe, which is very hard to
find. Both societies have different ideas on internal policy, religious
discrimination and LGBT rights.
Brian Whitaker, or as his friends call him “whitty,”
has been a journalist for the British newspaper, The Guardian since 1987 and
was its Middle East editor from 2000 to 2007. He studied Arabic studies at the
University of Westminster and Latin at the University of Birmingham. He has
championed himself as a defender of LGBTs and Atheism in the Middle East, which
is why he received the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Nonfiction. Brian’s
CV is spotless, but the truth is very different and frightfully worrying.
At first, I tried to understand Brian’s
perspective on LGBTs rights in the Middle East, where he wrote damming reports
on Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Arab world in general. He went as far as writing
a book called the ‘Forbidden Love,’ which analyzed the lives of the gay
communities in the Middle East, especially the Gulf. I was really impressed
till I stumbled upon an article on his website, Al-Bab, “Royal charity fights
homosexuality in Qatar” which praises the Qatari’s undemocratic, discriminatory
and anti-homosexual regime. In fact, people who were once close to him kept
bringing this propaganda article as a clear sign of his hypocrisy.
According to Qatar’s laws: Article 201 of the Penal
Code punishes sodomy between men with up to five years in prison. Article 296
of the Penal code explicitly bans gay, bisexual or extramarital relationships.
The article propagated the positive efforts of the
royal family of a country that prohibits LGBT activists or organizations. The
article had a clear intention of glamourizing the Qatari royal family,
especially the mother of the current Emir, Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (the
second of his father’s three wives), who owns over $270 million worth of assets
in the United Kingdom and the orchestrator of the coup in Qatar (1995). The
image polishing work is hypocritical and unrealistic: firstly, as a journalist
and self-proclaimed writer who happens to be a homosexual and defender of
LGBTs, he is defending the government who prosecutes people of his sexual
orientation. Secondly, Mozah and her son, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani, the Emir, are
the highest officials and hold the sovereignty of the country in their hands.
Therefore, to insinuate that they work for a cause against laws regarding LGBTs
of which they have passed is contradictory and absurd.
A colleague of Brian (who requested anonymity), from
the British-Yemeni Society, revealed that this r.particular article on LGBTs
was actually paid for by one of the intelligence officials in Qatar after being
introduced to him by a dear friend, Rori Donaghy. Rory worked for Anas Al
Tikriti, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and heads many Muslim Brotherhood
affiliated organizations such as the Cordoba Foundation. For Rori’s efforts in
assisting Al Tikriti and the Qataris in making a close-knit network, as well as
to camouflage a Qatari attack on UAE, Rori was appointed Director of the
Emirates Centre for Human Rights in 2011.
In 2007, Brian was made redundant from The Guardian
because of his bias articles that favoured Qatar’s position on issues in the
Middle East. Brian is not alone, many journalists and media personnel are made
into parrots and a mouthpiece for other countries around the world.
Brian can just about go on trial for treason. To the
Westerners, he camouflages himself as an LGBT activist in the Middle East but
writes journalistic work in favour of Qatar’s position on political matters.
Whereas, in the Middle East, he paints himself as a defender of Arab causes or
Islam.
I have analysed over 450 articles that he has ever
wrote, plus his books since 2008 and there are no articles criticising Qatar or
the royal family. On Al-Bab.com, a website under his ownership, run and paid
for by Qatar, there are no negative press on Qatar.
Brian has lost all credibility as a truth-seeking
journalist and should be lampooned for his bias agency work for Qatar
.
