UK MPs Blast Formula One Over Bahrain, Saudi Arabia ‘Sportswashing’

Date: 03 March 2023 - 21:45

News ID: ۱۱۲۹۹۴

MANAMA (Middle East Eye) – A group of British MPs has written to the organizers of Formula One (F1) to express their “grave concerns” over motorsport’s role in “sportswashing the appalling human rights records of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia”.
Ahead of the new F1 season, which begins this Sunday, in Bahrain, 20 parliamentarians including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, and Layla Moran, called for an independent inquiry into F1 and the governing body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s (FIA) activities in countries with questionable human rights records.
McDonnell, Labour’s former shadow chancellor, told Middle East Eye: “The presence of F1 gives the impression that Bahrain is somehow a normal state. Its abuse of human rights means it certainly isn’t. No sport should be providing this regime with any credibility.”
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will both host Grand Prix this season despite Saudi Arabia violating human rights in the country and Bahrain continuing to imprison its population at the highest rate of any country in the Middle East, with an estimated 1,300 political prisoners.
The British politicians condemned F1’s “refusal to engage with key stakeholders including human rights groups” before it awarded Bahrain the “longest contract in F1 history, breaching F1’s own policy”.
“Multimillion dollar profits must not come at the expense of human rights,” the letter to F1 and the FIA, which was seen by MEE, reads.
“You have a duty to ensure your presence has a positive impact, which will not be possible whilst political prisoners remain behind bars in Bahrain. If Lewis Hamilton can speak out, why can’t you?”
“I along with other MPs and peers from the UK parliament have written an open letter to FIA and F1,” Lord Scriven, a Liberal Democrat, told MEE in a statement.
In a recent development in Bahrain, one of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders has been denied a cardiologist after going to hospital for an urgent heart problem.
Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja, 61, who was imprisoned in 2011 after leading peaceful protests that called for fundamental freedoms in the kingdom, was transferred to the clinic at Jau Prison on 28 February for an urgent heart issue, his daughter Maryam al-Khawaja from the #FreeAlKhawaja campaign, said.
After an examination, which included an electrocardiogram, a doctor recommended he be transferred immediately to Bahrain Defence Force Hospital, as his heartbeat was abnormally fast.
He later told his daughter Maryam that he was experiencing heavy breathing and an elevated heartbeat.
Anti-monarchy demonstrations in Bahrain began in mid-February 2011 and have gained momentum over the years. The demonstrators demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power, and a democratic, just system representing all Bahrainis be established in the country.