This Instagram Star Says He Was Arrested Because Authorities Thought He Was Gay

Polish Instagrammer Luxy says he was stopped at Doha airport due to issues with his visa and then detained in a jail for two months over accusations that he was gay.

Over the weekend several media outlets reported that Polish Instagram star Luxy was recently detained in Doha, Qatar, on suspicion of being gay.

Luxy told Gay Star News that he was held by security at Doha airport on July 6 due to issues with his visa. He said that while he was detained, officials looked through his phone and then arrested him for indecency, cybercrime, and allegations of being gay.

The Instagram star does not identify as gay.

"They told me some Qatari guy made the request to arrest me because I put his naked photo on Instagram," he told reporters.

He said that the guards questioned his gender and laughed at his social media photos, and he was later offered a job luring gay men for authorities.

Luxy told BuzzFeed News that accusations of homosexuality were based on what airport security saw on his phone after he was detained.

According to arrest documents provided to BuzzFeed News by Luxy — which did not specify why he was arrested — he was held in solitary confinement, and authorities questioned his gender and put "not specified" in that field on his form.

Luxy initially told the Daily Dot he was then held in jail for two months, during which time he was reported as missing in Poland.

He said he believes the Qataris did not relay news of his arrest back to his home country. After eventually being located, he said, he was given a lawyer and then released.

However, the Polish embassy in Doha told BuzzFeed News that Luxy was not arrested on charges of being gay and that he was never reported as missing. The embassy also said that when interviewed by Polish consular staff in prison, Luxy never complained about the conduct of police officers and he felt the conditions of his arrest were fair. Their full statement is below:

A Polish national nicknamed Luxy, aged 18, was detained at Hamad International Airport in Doha on 06 July 2016 on a charge of money extortion, blackmail and assault on a Qatari national’s privacy on line (cyber-related offense) – not of being homosexual or due to a minor visa irregularities. His arrest has not been reported to the Polish consular services by the Qatari Police (which is by and large a standard practice in Qatar), until the detainee’s family information received a week after the actual detention. Polish consular service has never reported Mr Luxy missing.

I visited the detainee in jail (remand over Criminal Investigation Department, not a prison) several times and found the arrest conditions decent and correct, what was also the opinion of the detainee. No irregular behaviour of any Police officer was reported to me by the detainee.

Eventually “Luxy” was released in mid-August on bail and allowed to leave Qatar national territory although, to my knowledge, the investigation is still underway.

When asked about the inconsistencies between the Polish embassy's version of events and his own, Luxy said that the case is still ongoing. He is mainly worried about the story being misconstrued, because his family has links to Arab countries.

Skip to footer