Qatar officials dismiss claims German film crew arrested for filming controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup documentary

Qatari officials have denied German reporters were detained in Qatar because they were filming a documentary on the allegations levelled at FIFA and the 2022 World Cup ©Getty Images

Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, the body behind the 2022 World Cup, have dismissed claims a German film crew were arrested and detained because they were filming a documentary about the conditions of migrant workers and alleged corruption.

Reporters from ARD, one of the biggest broadcasters in Germany, already noteworthy in the sports world for its series of documentaries exposing doping in athletics late last year, were arrested in March.

They were not allowed to leave Qatar for five days and were held for 14 hours, it is claimed..

According to journalist Florian Bauer, the crew were interrogated by Qatari state security and were unable to exit the country with their filming equipment.

They also had their mobile phones and laptops returned four weeks after their arrest and their devices had all of their data deleted.

“Now it's public,” Bauer wrote on Twitter.

“We got arrested in Qatar, interrogated by the police and the intelligence service.

“Not allowed to leave the country for days.”

The documentary, entitled “Sold Football - Sepp Blatter and the power of FIFA”, was screened this week and detailed the allegations of corruption surrounding the murky 2022 World Cup, where votes for Qatar were reportedly bought.

It also attempted to shed light on the conditions migrant workers who are currently involved with the Qatar World Cup project are facing, an issue which has caused a high degree of controversy in recent years.

Image title — FIFA have come under intense criticism for awarding Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup ©Getty Images

Around 400 Nepalese workers are said to have died working on building sites since construction began and both Qatar and FIFA have come under fire from human rights activists ever since the country was awarded the tournament in December 2010.

It had originally been reported that the reason for the journalists’ detention was because they were filming a critical documentary, but in a statement released on their Twitter feed, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy quashed those claims, insisting it was because the film crews didn’t have the necessary permission.

“The journalist and the film crew concerned were not arrested as a result of reporting on allegations surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar or FIFA,” the statement read.

“Any suggestion to the contrary is explicitly false.

“Any media outlet wishing to film in Qatar requires a film permit to do so, as is common in many countries.

“Any working journalist who has visited Qatar will be aware of this process and understand filming in specific locations without permission runs the risk of legal repercussions.”