Bahrain torture and football news

This 2014 video is called ‘People were tortured in front of my eyes’: Bahrain top human rights activist Nabeel Rajab released.

From the New York Times in the USA:

Shadow of Human Rights Abuse Follows Contender in FIFA Vote

By REBECCA R. RUIZ

FEB. 24, 2016

ZURICH — Nothing has rocked international soccer quite like the waves of arrests made across several continents last year as the United States announced bribery and corruption charges against the men running the sport, the world’s biggest and richest. But as the organization that governs global soccer gathers this week to choose a new president, a leading contender risks stirring up another source of controversy for the sport: human rights.

With the election set to be held here on Friday, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a member of the ruling family of Bahrain and the president of the governing body for soccer in Asia, might already have the support of a commanding number of voting countries, making him one of the favorites, with Gianni Infantino, to replace Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA.

Critics have seized on one aspect of Sheikh Salman’s background that remains unclear: They want FIFA to investigate whether he had any connection to the jailing and torture of Bahraini athletes who peacefully protested his family’s rule in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

Sheikh Salman ‘knew about player beatings’, says ex-Bahrain international: here.

FIFA presidential hopeful Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has been reprimanded for raising questions about his Bahraini rival’s human rights record. Despite presenting himself as untainted by Fifa’s dodgy dealings due to only arriving at the top table recently, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa has been accused of dobbing in athletes who were involved in pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in 2011: here.

Shaikh Salman’s own goal cost him the top job at FIFA: here.

Bahrain Finds Opposition Leader Guilty of Opposition: here.

Repression continues in Bahrain in an increasingly tense regional environment: here.