Whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais is free again after three and a half years in prison in Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup. In an interview with the sports show, he speaks openly for the first time about his detention, FIFA and his struggle for justice.
The view wanders quietly over the roofs of Amman. Abdullah Ibhais is back in his homeland after three and a half years in Catarian – a time when he said he should be systematically silenced. “I was a prisoner of this World Cup”he says the sports show.
It is the first time since his release in March 2025 that he is publicly commented. The sports show meets him in the Jordan capital Amman, where he lives with his family today. The past that still employs him is in Qatar – where a major sporting event became a political prestige project and everything broke for him.
Abdullah Ibhais – the man who didn’t want to be silent
Abdullah Ibhais was a communications manager in the organizing committee (OK) of the 2022 World Cup – until he began to ask uncomfortable questions. In August 2019 there were wild strikes and demonstrations from guest workers, including World Cup construction workers. Hundreds demanded the payment of outstanding wages.
What followed was an internal discussion in the OK for sovereignty. The then head of the World Cup committee, Hassan al-Thawadi, asked the communication team to “Spin“to publish. Abdullah Ibhais clearly contradicted. He advocated displacing the real reasons for the strikes – and taking responsibility. The result was an open conflict with the leadership around Al-Thawadi.
The debate was documented internally – by numerous chats and emails. Ibhais was then excluded from the work area around guest workers. In October 2019, two months later, the World Cup committee started an investigation against Ibhais due to allegations of corruption in connection with one Social media-Order.
When Ibhais realized that he was being investigated, he decided to secure his documents. In April 2021, he was found to be guilty and sentenced to five years in prison, which was later reduced to three and a half years. He has always asserted his innocence. At that time, Abdullah Ibhais was not yet in prison due to his appointment procedure.
In autumn 2021, he then handed over various internal documents to human rights organizations and the WDR magazine Sport inside And the sports show to prove the arbitrariness of the allegations against him. The reports show that he had campaigned for clarification and crumporary treatment of guest workers – and that was why he had come under pressure. A few days after the first publications on his case, he was arrested in Qatar.
“It was the feeling of complete Hopelessness”
Ibhais describes the conditions of detention as inhumane: overcrowded cells, no hygiene, no medical care, inadequate food. But the worst, he says, was the feeling of complete hopelessness.
Any contact was sanctioned, visits were refused, telephone rights withdrawn, isolation arranged. In the meantime, he stepped on hunger strike. A glimmer of hope: the complaint with the UN working group for arbitrary detention. Last year she came to the conclusion that his detention was arbitrary and without legal basis. “When I got their judgment, it finally felt like someone was recognizing what was done to me”he says.
“Qatar was not held accountable. The FIFA was not”
Even in freedom, Ibhais does not want to be silent: “I will try everything to achieve justice because Qatar has not yet been held accountable. And FIFA is not either.” He checks legal steps – in Switzerland, in the USA, before the European Court of Human Rights. “I’m not just about my personal story”he says: “But about someone recognizing: yes, there were these violations. Yes, they were covered up. And yes, someone has to take responsibility. For me – and for the workers who have suffered.