An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as "a damage in the mind" in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF.
The comments come merely two weeks before the World Cup kicks off in the Gulf state and raises further concerns over human rights and LGBTQ+ treatment in the country.
Former Qatari international Khalid Salman told a German reporter: [Homosexuality] is haram. You know what haram [forbidden] means?
"During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let's talk about gays: the most important thing is everybody will accept that they come here - but they will have to accept our rules."
Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar under Islamic Sharia law.
Excerpts of the television interview were shown on Monday, while the full interview, which is part of a documentary, will be shown this Tuesday on ZDF.
Germany interior minister Nancy Faeser condemned Salman's remarks on Tuesday: "Of course, such comments are terrible, and that is the reason why we are working on things in Qatar to hopefully improve."
About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the tournament, which has faced criticism and scepticism ever since the gas-rich state was selected as host by FIFA in December 2010.
The interview was cut short by a media officer from the World Cup organising committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals, ZDF reported.
Faeser, who is also responsible for sports, said the country's prime minister had given her a safety guarantee for fans, no matter where they came from, whom they love and what they believe in, when she visited Qatar a week ago.
Faeser claims there has been no change to that stance from the prime minister, who is also Qatar's interior minister, and plans to attend Germany's opening World Cup match against Japan in person.
Last month, Germany's ambassador to the Gulf state was summoned by the Qatar government after Faeser appeared to criticise the country for its human rights record.
In Washington, State Department spokesperson Ned Price called the remarks by the Qatari official a great concern: "We have a relationship with Qatar that allows us to discuss our areas of mutual interest, but it also allows us to discuss what is important with the United States and values of tolerance, diversity, of respecting all people regardless of who they are or whom they love. I suspect we'll be addressing that directly."
