AFP/Doha
Qatar's World Cup chief on Friday dismissed a call from a former FIFA official for the Gulf country to lose the right to host football's biggest tournament in 2022.
Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of Doha's 2022 Supreme Committee, said Theo Zwanziger's criticisms were "misleading" and added that the German had never visited Qatar to see what was going on for himself.
Zwanziger said earlier that Qatar should be stripped of the cup because of human rights violations.
Al-Thawadi though said Qatar had announced changes to the "kafala" system.
"We therefore reject comments made by Theo Zwanziger that are misleading and not based on first-hand knowledge of Qatar," said al-Thawadi.
"We have met Zwanziger and personally invited him to come to Qatar so that he can gain an understanding of the efforts we are making to improve the environment for workers in the country.
"Unlike some German experts who have visited Qatar to form their own opinion of our construction sites, he has never visited Qatar."
Last week, al-Thawadi claimed Qatar had been "singled out" for criticism and that no workers had died on World Cup construction work.