English Premier League urged to block Saudi takeover of Newcastle United

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON (AA) - The English Premier League has been urged by a prominent international charity organization to block the acquisition of football team Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia over its gross human rights abuses.

In a statement released on Thursday, Amnesty International said the proposed deal of £300 million by the Saudi Arabian regime to buy the northern English football club was an attempt by Riyadh to “sportswash” their abuses and violations of human rights in the country.

“Instead of allowing those implicated in serious human rights violations to walk into English football simply because they have deep pockets, we’ve urged the Premier League to change their owners’ and directors’ test to address human rights issues,” said Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty’s UK Chief Director.

“The phrase ‘human rights’ doesn’t even appear in the owners’ and directors’ test despite English football supposedly adhering to FIFA standards. We’ve sent the Premier League a suggested new human-rights-compliant test and we reiterate our call on them to overhaul their standards on this,” Deshmukh added.

The Chief Director also pointed to the murder of Washington Post journalist and senior activist Jamal Kashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Riyadh agents, as well as the suppressing of activists and senior scholars as a good enough reason to prevent the deal from going through.

According to the details of the agreement, the state’s sovereign wealth fund - the Saudi Public Investment Fund - would proceed with the £300-million-takeover of Newcastle United and would, in effect, own just over 80% of the team. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and de facto head of the country, currently oversees the operations of the Investment Fund.