FILE - Workers walk to the Lusail Stadium, one of the 2022 World Cup stadiums, in Lusail, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. The eight stadiums for the World Cup, all within a 30-mile radius of Doha, are now largely complete. Migrant laborers who built Qatar's World Cup stadiums often worked long hours under harsh conditions and were subjected to discrimination, wage theft and other abuses as their employers evaded accountability, a rights group said in a report released Thursday. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
WCup Qatar Laborers
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — A top Qatari official involved in preparing his country’s hosting of the World Cup has put the number of worker deaths for the tournament “between 400 and 500” for the first time. That’s drastically higher than any other number previously offered by Doha. The comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared to come off the cuff during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan. It also threatened to reinvigorate criticism by human rights groups over what the toll of hosting the Middle East’s first World Cup for the migrant labor that built over $200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament.
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