Almajid: I’ll always be in fear

A whistleblower who made corruption allegations against the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid claims she will live the rest of her life in fear after receiving threats against her and her children.

Phaedra Almajid, who worked for the Qatar 2022 bid team before losing her job in 2010, provided evidence of wrongdoing to Michael Garcia’s independent inquiry into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

Her evidence was given on condition of anonymity — a condition she believes was deliberately breached in a summary of Garcia’s report published by Fifa ethics committee judge Hans-Joachim Eckert last week.

“Do I regret being the Qatar whistleblower? It has cost me personally, it has cost me emotionally — I know for a fact I will be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life,” Almajid said.

“It has cost me my credibility and most importantly it has cost me the security of both me and my children.

“However I did witness something and I believe I did have to say what I had witnessed.”

Almajid added: “I was a bigger threat to the Qataris than I ever was to Fifa.”