A veteran British LGBTQ campaigner staged a protest in Qatar on Tuesday as the World Cup host hit back at criticism of its rights record.

Peter Tatchell, 70, who was arrested while demonstrating before the Russia World Cup in 2018, was not detained this time for making his challenge to Qatar's law criminalising homosexuality.

"An individual standing in a traffic roundabout was cordially and professionally asked to move to the sidewalk: no arrests were made," said a Qatar Government Communication Office official.

Qatar authorities are increasingly sensitive to attacks by non-government groups.

The Gulf state has insisted that all fans will be welcome to the World Cup, regardless of sexual orientation, but not defended its laws.

Earlier in the day, the country's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, said Qatar had been the target of an "unprecedented campaign" of foreign criticism over its World Cup hosting.

Tatchell said in a statement on his foundation's website that he was "arrested" outside the Qatar National Museum and held at a kerbside for 49 minutes, surrounded by nine police.

He added that police deleted photos and videos on a mobile phone belonging to a colleague who was with him.

This account was denied by Qatar authorities who renewed criticism of reporting on the country.

"We are extremely disappointed to see baseless accusations being freely reported by media outlets, without facts," said the government statement.

Witnesses said they saw five police who advised Tatchell to fold up a banner proclaiming "Qatar arrests, jails and subjects LGBTs to 'conversions'".

An officer shook hands with Tatchell before all the police walked back to their cars, one witness said.

The incident came one day after Human Rights Watch said Qatar police had detained and abused members of the lesbian, gay, transgender, queer community in the run-up to the World Cup. That also brought an angry government response.

Four transgender women, one bisexual woman and one gay man all told how they were detained in an underground prison in the capital, Doha.

HRW said some were beaten and transgender women had been forced to attend "conversion therapy sessions" at a government centre.

The government called the allegations "categorically and unequivocally false". It denied there are conversion centres in the state.

Sex outside marriage and homosexual sex are both illegal in the conservative Muslim state, and can be punished by up to seven years in prison.