He Minister of Sports Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisalassured that the accusations use sport as a means of image laundering in the country they are “very superficial.”
In an interview with the British network BBCthe minister defended his country’s right to hold Soccer World Cup from 2034. He assured that people blame them for many things, “without ever being in the country and without seeing what they do.”
The Saudi regime has repeatedly been criticized for using sports as a way to hide alleged Violation of an individual’s rights that are happening in the country, such as the fact that same-sex relationships are prohibited.
🗣️ “I think it’s very superficial.”
Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz has responded to accusations that his country is “sports laundering.”@danroan traveled to Jeddah to find out if the Kingdom is suitable to host the 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/KaFTMtZzgd
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 8, 2023
Recently, an Arab country tried divert attention their political problems in human rights issueto become the world’s sports elite.
He achieved this in football by strengthening the local league by signing players such as Cristiano Ronaldo And Karim Benzemawhen purchasing equipment such as Newcastle Unitedor holding tournaments such as World Cup 2034 And FIFA Club World Cup.
They also became interested in golf, creating Scheme LIVand in tennis, with the intention of holding ATP tournaments And VTA.
Thus, the local sports minister justified the costs by approx. 900 million eurosWhat Saudi League deployed last summer:
Nobody said anything to the Premier League when it made a similar investment.
With regard to respect for human rights, Prince Abdulaziz I’m sure that’s all the country “has room to improve” and that “nobody is perfect.”
We know that events like this will help us reform for a better future for everyone. Welcome to Saudi Arabia. Like any other country, we have rules and regulations that everyone must respect. When we come to Britain we respect the law, whether we believe in it or not. There have been no problems at all in the 85 events we have held so far.
The President also confirmed that the policy use cheap labor and with which workers’ rights in preparing the country for world Cup.
I can assure you that something like this will not happen again. We have ten years ahead of us to work on this. We’ve already started work on some of the stadiums, so we still have plenty of time to get it right.
The reaction after the interview was not long in coming: NGOs Amnesty International expressed his skepticism to X, saying he doubted the Middle Eastern country would welcome activists and journalists.
“Everyone is welcome” to the 2034 World Cup, says Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz.
Really? Including human rights activists and journalists asking difficult questions?#sportswash https://t.co/HP0BfL9MYE
— Amnesty News (@NewsFromAmnesty) December 8, 2023
(according to information from EFE)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
