London, October 13 (EFE). Amnesty International (AI) has requested a meeting with the Premier League to discuss the policies for accepting owners into the competition following the sale of Newcastle United.
The English club was acquired by a Saudi fund linked to the country’s government, which has been questioned over its crimes against human rights such as the dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
The head of Amnesty International UK, Sasha Deshmukh, has written to Chief Executive Officer Richard Masters requesting a meeting to discuss changes to the policies of the competition’s owners and chairs.
“The way in which the Premier League has made available this deal opens up a lot of questions about a face-lift in sport, human rights and integrity in English football,” Deshmukh said.
He added: “How can it be acceptable that the current Premier League policies say nothing about human rights? Football is a global sport that needs to update its rules to prevent those involved in human rights abuses from buying their entry into the game. English football.”
As the Premier League made clear, it had received “judicial guarantees” that Saudi Arabia would not take control of the club, so it was able to give the green light to the process.
(c) EFE . Agency
“Lifelong travel trailblazer. Food nerd. Award-winning music enthusiast. Twitter guru.”