Flight Attended Arrested in Qatar Grindr 'Sting' Has Been Sentenced
The British-Mexican flight attendant who was caught in a Grindr "sting" in Qatar has received his sentence.
As previously reported, Manuel Guerrero Aviña's family claims that he was led on to meeting someone calling themselves "Gio." However, his family says it was a "honeytrap operation" to catch gay men in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.
In a hearing in Doha, Aviña was found guilty of possessing an illegal substance, fined £2,100, received a six-month suspended sentence, and will be deported, according to the BBC.
Aviña is "taking advice" on his options, which includes appealing the sentencing, the BBC reported.
"Although I welcome the fact that I can leave the country, I still condemn the unfair trial I have been subjected to and the torture and ill treatment I endured during my preliminary detention," he said.
Qatari officials said Aviña was arrested because they found drugs in his apartment, but Aviña denies ever taking drugs and his family believes the drugs were planted in order to arrest him because he is gay.
Human rights group FairSquare called Aviña's trial a "travesty of justice."
Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and Africa, denounced Aviña's treatment in a statement and urged Qatari authors to overturn Aviña's "outrageous conviction and lift his travel ban."
"There are serious fears that [he] was targeted for his sexual orientation and was coerced into providing the authorities with information that they could use to pursue a wider crackdown on LGBTI individuals in Qatar," said Majzoub.
View Aviña's response to his sentencing in Instagram: