Amnesty International urges the Premier League to prevent Saudi Arabia from buying Newcastle

Amnesty International has urged the Premier League to reconsider the “appalling” human rights record of Saudi Arabia before it gives the go-ahead for the Saudi-led consortium to buy Newcastle.

The call came from Amnesty International, which also wants the Premier League to offer a test for new owners and managers which would include a focus on human rights aspects.

A £300m deal is expected to be approved by the Premier League later on Thursday, but Amnesty UK chief executive Sasha Deshmukh said the deal represented a “clear attempt by the Saudi authorities to launder their human rights record”. The magic of the summit is football,” according to the British newspaper, theguardian.

Amnesty urges Premier League to block Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle https://t.co/KXcAHj2yvz

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 7, 2021

And the newspaper pointed out in a previous article yesterday, Wednesday, that months ago, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was on its way to acquire Newcastle, but the accusation of Qatar of violating the rights of its channels in Saudi Arabia through “beoutQ” channels hindered the completion of the deal.

A source inside Newcastle said: “The end of the beoutQ piracy process, and the lifting of the ban on beIN Sports in Saudi Arabia, will pave the way for the acquisition of Newcastle.”

The Newcastle administration refused to issue any official statements to comment on these reports, while no statement was issued by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund on those reports as well.