In the build-up to the 2022 World Cup and with press coverage intensifying on the hosts Qatar, a third Norwegian journalist has been arrested in the country but later released without charge.

Josimar editor Håvard Mælnes spent 24 hours in solitary confinement, but his arrest further questions how the World Cup suppress the freedom of the press...

“I was on my way out of a hotel when I saw a well-grown man scolding two young hotel employees who were carrying his suitcases,” Mælnes told Norwegian media. “I asked him to take it easy. It ended with a little verbal mouth-slapping.”

“Suddenly the man called the police and half a minute later I was sitting in a police car, handcuffed.”

The Josimar editor spent 24 hours in solitary confinement but said police treated him well. His arrest has not come as a surprise. His long-form magazine has been an outspoken critic of Qatar.