Saudi Government Uses European Football to Sportswash its Reputation
Human Rights Watch
Forget Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist brutally murdered in a Saudi consulate, and all his colleagues jailed, censored or harassed in Saudi Arabia; don’t think about women’s and LGBT rights in the kingdom; and ignore the mass killings of migrants along the Saudi border with Yemen. Look, there, Saudi Arabia is hosting the Super Cup, Inter Milan, Real Madrid! It’s the country of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, not repression and rampant human rights abuses.
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Inter Milan's players lift the trophy to celebrate winning the Italian SuperCup football match at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on January 18, 2023. © 2023 Fayes Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images.
This is how “sportswashing” works: laundering a government’s reputation by hosting major sport events that attract widespread, positive media attention, while diverting it away from the hosts abuses. Saudi Arabia has been doing that for years and intends to continue doing so. (...)
In May, Saudi human rights defenders, activists, and intellectuals issued “A People’s Vision for Reform in Saudi Arabia”, a document articulating a series of principles and reforms that should serve as the foundation of a rights-respecting Saudi Arabia. Their requests included the release of all political prisoners, the respect of the rights to freedom of expression and of association, upholding the rights of women, migrants, and religious minorities, the abolition of torture and death penalty, a reform of the justice system, and a redistribution of the country’s wealth.
But instead of complying with their human rights obligations and starting a dialogue with civil society actors, Saudi authorities have repressed every form of dissent. (...)
Swamped with debt, European football risks making itself a well-paid puppet of the Saudi propaganda machine. (...)
Tags: #human_rights #football #uefa #fifa #khashoggi #lgtb_rights #yemen #saudi_arabia #super_cup #inter_milan #real_madrid #ronaldo #neymar #sportswashing #torture #death_penalty
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