Fifa candidate Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa is linked to Bahrain crackdown
Source: The Guardian
Fifa candidate Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa is linked to Bahrain crackdown
Owen Gibson
Friday 16 October 2015 19.13 BST
Human rights organisations have reacted with alarm to the Bahraini royal Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa becoming the new favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa president, citing his familys role in the brutal suppression of the countrys pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011.
Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation president, is expected to announce his candidature early next week after agreeing to fill the void created by the suspension of the Uefa president, Michel Platini, over an alleged disloyal payment from Blatter, who has also been suspended by world footballs governing body. Sheikh Salman has received backing from football associations around the world, including many in Platinis Uefa stronghold.
But human rights organisations have reacted furiously, resurrecting claims that Sheikh Salman was involved in identifying athletes involved in pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, some of whom were then allegedly imprisoned and tortured. Since the peaceful anti-government protests of 2011, which the authorities responded to with brutal and lethal force, the al-Khalifa family have overseen a campaign of torture and mass incarceration that has decimated Bahrains pro-democracy movement, said Nicholas McGeehan, the Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch.
If a member of Bahrains royal family is the cleanest pair of hands that Fifa can find, then the organisation would appear to have the shallowest and least ethical pool of talent in world sport.
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Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/16/sheikh-salman-al-khalifa-fifa-president-bahrain-human-rights