MADRID, 4 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Amnesty International has asked the Portuguese striker for Al Nassr Cristiano Ronaldo to take advantage of his move to the Saudi Arabian club to denounce the lack of human rights in the country, following the statements made by the former Real Madrid and Manchester United footballer at his official presentation .
In response to these statements about his decision to accept the Saudi club’s offer, Amnesty International Middle East researcher Dana Ahmed regretted that the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo by Al-Nassr is part of “another example” of the “political sports image wash” in Saudi Arabia.
“It is very likely that the Saudi authorities will promote Ronaldo’s presence in the country as a means of diverting attention from the country’s appalling human rights record. Instead of lauding the goodness of Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo could have used his considerable public impact to draw attention to the human rights problems in the country,” he denounced.
For Ahmed, Saudi Arabia “regularly executes” people for crimes such as murder, rape and drug smuggling. “On a single day last year, 81 people were sentenced to death, many of whom were tried in grossly unfair trials. Authorities also continue to crack down on freedom of expression and association, with harsh prison terms imposed on defenders rights activists, women’s rights activists and other political activists,” she stressed.
For this reason, the Amnesty representative said that Cristiano Ronaldo “must not allow his fame and celebrity status to become a tool for Saudi sports image laundering.” “He could take advantage of his stay in Al-Nassr to talk about the innumerable human rights problems that exist in the country,” she stressed.