Leeds United, from football to Bahrain dictatorship propaganda

This video is called Bahrain security forces torture doctors, medics and patients.

The absolute monarchy in Bahrain has, it seems, successfully bribed US American TV star Kim Kardashian, US media corporation CNN, and the British armed forces.

They also tried to bribe the British parliament. But then, they failed with at least one MP.

Today, there is news from Sports Mole in Beitain:

Friday, December 21, 2012 at 13:10 UK

Good morning and welcome to Sports Mole’s live coverage of the news that GFH Capital have completed their takeover of Leeds United.

The Bahrain investment bank will take 100% control over the club in a £52m deal today.

Current chairman Ken Bates will stay on until the end of the season before being appointed club president.

To some people who are sick and tired of Ken Bates, this may seem like good news.

But not so fast. Leeds United be out of the frying pan, and into the fire of being a public relations prop for a torturing dictatorship.

From Football Speak in Britain:

Questions raised about GHF’s ability to fund Leeds United

03 October 2012

By James M Dorsey

Concern is rising that troubled English soccer club Leeds United’s negotiations for a takeover by Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House (GFH) may not give it access to the kind of Middle Eastern funding that has significantly boosted the fortunes of the likes of Manchester City and Paris St. Germain.

Determined to rid themselves of current majority shareholder Ken Bates whom they blame for the club’s difficulties, fans organized in the Leeds United Supporters Trust have welcomed GFH’s bid for the team despite Europe’s mixed experience with Middle Eastern investors.

…

It was not immediately clear what the purpose is of GFH’s planned acquisition of Leeds, but its close association with the embattled rulers of Bahrain suggests that it may be in part intended to shore up the island nation’s image tarnished by last year’s brutal suppression of a popular uprising in which 35 people were killed and some 2,000 injured.

35 dead is a much too conservative estimate.

Some 150 athletes and sports officials, including three national soccer team players, were arrested, dismissed from their jobs and in some cases tortured and charged in court for their support of the protests. Many of those affected have since been reinstated, but unrest is simmering with protests having moved from the capital into the villages in what many believe is a second uprising in waiting.

A Bahrain court this week upheld the sentencing to prison of nine medics accused of illegal assembly and concealing weapons. The court rejected the medics’ assertion that they were simply fulfilling their duty to treat the injured irrespective of their political views. Five of the medics were arrested at dawn on Tuesday morning with the wife of one of them calling the verdict “purely political.”

See also here.

Related articles

• Bahrain regime detains United States journalist (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain dictatorship jails another human rights activist (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Leeds United takeover still on despite buyers’ worrying accounts (guardian.co.uk)