12 November 2015

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

FIFA Presidential
Candidates: Sheikh
Salman's Bid Approved
Despite Alleged Human
Rights Violations
FIFAs election committee
approved Bahrains Sheikh
Salman bin Ibrahim Al
Khalifa
on
Thursday
as a candidate for next
Februarys
presidential
election, despite allegations
that he was complicit in
human rights violations
of Bahraini protesters in
2011. International soccers
governing body cleared
Salman to run even as it
banned presidential hopeful
Musa Bility of Liberia for
unspecified violations of its
integrity check.

Human Rights Watch,

have questioned Sheikh
Salmans candidacy due to
his apparent involvement
in the Bahraini royal
familys crackdown on prodemocracy protesters. The
groups allege that Sheikh
Salman, a member of the
royal family and former
head of the Bahrain Football
Association,
participated
in efforts to jail and, in
some cases, torture soccer
players who participated in
the protests.

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Several prominent human

rights groups, including

An alleged torturer could

replace Sepp Blatter as
FIFA president
There are a lot of bad
things you can say about
outgoing FIFA President
Sepp Blatter, but at least
hes never been accused
of physically torturing
anybody. One cant say
the same about one of
the
five
presidential
candidates who passed
FIFAs integrity checks
this weekend, though.
Meet
Sheikh
Salman
Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa
of Bahrain, one of the
candidates FIFA deemed
to have enough integrity
to lead world soccer when
Blatter finally steps down
next year. Currently the
president of the Asian

Football Confederation,
Sheikh
Salman
has
garnered
extensive
criticism from groups like
Human Rights Watch,
Americans for Democracy
and Human Rights in
Bahrain and the Bahrain
Institute for Rights and
Democracy for his alleged
ties to a 2011 crackdown
of
anti-government
protesters that resulted
in hundreds of people,
including Bahraini soccer
players, being imprisoned
and tortured.

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integrity checks carried out

by Fifas ad hoc electoral
committee.

Sheikh Salman cleared to

stand in five-man race to
be Fifa president
Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim
al-Khalifa,
the
Asian
Football
Confederation
president who has been
criticised by human rights
campaigners over alleged
links to a brutal crackdown
on
pro-democracy
campaigners in Bahrain,
has been cleared to stand in
Februarys Fifa presidential
election.
Amid the worst crisis in
Fifas history, the field to
replace Sepp Blatter as
president of the embattled
world football governing
body narrowed to five
after Liberias Musa Bility
was struck out following

Who is Sheikh Salman?

Fifa presidential
candidate accused of
'crimes against humanity'
Fifa
has
announced
the shortlist of those
competing to replace
outgoing Fifa president
Sepp Blatter as the head of
football's world governing
body at the elections in
February 2016. In order to
be eligible, each candidate
must pass Fifa's Ethics
Committee's
integrity
checks involving a review
of
corporate
records,
bankruptcy proceedings,
potential
regulatory
actions
and
other
"potential red flags", such
as fraudulent behaviour,
match manipulation and
human rights violations.

Fifas electoral committee

said on Thursday the five
approved
presidential
candidates were Sheikh
Salman, Prince Ali bin
al-Hussein of Jordan, the
formerFifa executive Jrme
Champagne of France,
the Uefa general secretary
Gianni
Infantino
of
Switzerland and the South
African businessman Tokyo
Sexwale.

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Among those who have

passed the checks and
are now official Fifa
presidential
candidates
are Prince Ali Ali Hussein,
former Fifa executive
Jrme Champagne, Uefa
general secretary Gianni
Infantino and ex-South
African
government
minister Tokyo Sexwale.
Two names who did not
make the list were Liberian
football association chief
Musa Bility, who did not
pass the integrity tests
although the reasons why
have not been disclosed,
and
Uefa
president
Michel Platini, who is
currently suspended from
all footballing activities
for 90 dayspending a
criminal
investigation
over "disloyal payments".

Read more