Dharmabum
Well-Known Member
- Aug 16, 2003
- 8,274
- 12,242
If FIFA wasn't already a farce...
http://www.theguardian.com/football...dent-bid#_ga=1.24051962.1760792266.1455112352
Fifa academic demands outcry from FAs over Sheikh Salman presidential bid
• Mark Pieth employed by Fifa originally to oversee its reform efforts
• German Green Party angered by alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain
Mark Pieth, the academic employed by Fifa originally to oversee its reform efforts, has called for an “outcry” from voters against Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa succeeding Sepp Blatter as president of the crisis hit governing body.
With pressure building in Germany against Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation president who is favourite to win the election on 26 February, Pieth said he was not an appropriate figure to oversee reform.
“We need an outcry from the 209 FAs. They should ask: Is this what we want? Really? Is Salman a credible agent of democracy and a fresh start? Is he suitable?” the Basel professor and governance expert told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Pieth also questioned whether a member of an “autocratic dynasty” should be eligible to lead Fifa out of a crisis.
Sheikh Salman, who has denied that he had links to the 2011 imprisonment and torture of pro-democracy protesters including footballers and athletes, is widely believed to enjoy the backing of the Kuwaiti Fifa executive committee member Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah.
“We call this mechanism aegis, not the Mafia. But it is similar. This mechanism perpetuates itself with these persons,” said Pieth, who was asked by Fifa in 2011 to oversee an Independent Governance Committee that finally reported in 2013.
His final assessment gave Fifa some credit for introducing an independent ethics committee but called for the urgent introduction of other reforms including integrity checks and term limits.
The German Green Party MP Claudia Roth, who is also a deputy chair of the Bundestag, was outspoken in her criticism of Sheikh Salman, who elected to stand after the Uefa president, Michel Platini, was suspended over claims he accepted a “disloyal payment” from Blatter.
“Electing Salman as Fifa president would be a mockery of the victims of the human rights abuses that are happening in Bahrain on a massive scale. An attempt at democratic reforms, at opening the country and having the majority of the people have a say in political affairs was brutally suppressed in 2011,” said Roth.
“Tanks were sent in from Saudi Arabia. There were many, many casualties, dead and wounded. Athletes were arrested, there are strong indication victims were tortured, footballers among them.”
Over the weekend another of the five candidates, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, complained that by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of African Football president, Issa Hayatou, which could be used to engineer a “bloc vote” in the forthcoming election, Sheikh Salman may have broken electoral rules. Sheikh Salman strongly denied those allegations as “entirely inaccurate”.
Advertisement
Meanwhile the Uefa general secretary, Gianni Infantino, has insisted he is in the race to win after campaigning in the Caribbean.
“I am going for the win. I am the candidate for the presidency and this support gives me even more responsibility and even more will to go until the end to become president of Fifa,” he said, before a Uefa executive committee meeting next week.
“I am candidate for president not for general secretary and I have support from all over the world and many more will come out … With a lot of respect for all the candidates of course, I am there to become Fifa president.”
20 January 2016. Lawyers for Sheikh Salman contacted us after publication. They say that Sheikh Salman had absolutely no involvement in the events of 2011. He is not a government official, has never played a role in governance of the country and, for the record and in light of recent recycling of historic allegations in the media, played no part in the detainment or mistreatment of any individuals.
http://www.theguardian.com/football...dent-bid#_ga=1.24051962.1760792266.1455112352
Fifa academic demands outcry from FAs over Sheikh Salman presidential bid
• Mark Pieth employed by Fifa originally to oversee its reform efforts
• German Green Party angered by alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain
Mark Pieth, the academic employed by Fifa originally to oversee its reform efforts, has called for an “outcry” from voters against Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa succeeding Sepp Blatter as president of the crisis hit governing body.
With pressure building in Germany against Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation president who is favourite to win the election on 26 February, Pieth said he was not an appropriate figure to oversee reform.
“We need an outcry from the 209 FAs. They should ask: Is this what we want? Really? Is Salman a credible agent of democracy and a fresh start? Is he suitable?” the Basel professor and governance expert told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Pieth also questioned whether a member of an “autocratic dynasty” should be eligible to lead Fifa out of a crisis.
Sheikh Salman, who has denied that he had links to the 2011 imprisonment and torture of pro-democracy protesters including footballers and athletes, is widely believed to enjoy the backing of the Kuwaiti Fifa executive committee member Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah.
“We call this mechanism aegis, not the Mafia. But it is similar. This mechanism perpetuates itself with these persons,” said Pieth, who was asked by Fifa in 2011 to oversee an Independent Governance Committee that finally reported in 2013.
His final assessment gave Fifa some credit for introducing an independent ethics committee but called for the urgent introduction of other reforms including integrity checks and term limits.
The German Green Party MP Claudia Roth, who is also a deputy chair of the Bundestag, was outspoken in her criticism of Sheikh Salman, who elected to stand after the Uefa president, Michel Platini, was suspended over claims he accepted a “disloyal payment” from Blatter.
“Electing Salman as Fifa president would be a mockery of the victims of the human rights abuses that are happening in Bahrain on a massive scale. An attempt at democratic reforms, at opening the country and having the majority of the people have a say in political affairs was brutally suppressed in 2011,” said Roth.
“Tanks were sent in from Saudi Arabia. There were many, many casualties, dead and wounded. Athletes were arrested, there are strong indication victims were tortured, footballers among them.”
Over the weekend another of the five candidates, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, complained that by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of African Football president, Issa Hayatou, which could be used to engineer a “bloc vote” in the forthcoming election, Sheikh Salman may have broken electoral rules. Sheikh Salman strongly denied those allegations as “entirely inaccurate”.
Advertisement
Meanwhile the Uefa general secretary, Gianni Infantino, has insisted he is in the race to win after campaigning in the Caribbean.
“I am going for the win. I am the candidate for the presidency and this support gives me even more responsibility and even more will to go until the end to become president of Fifa,” he said, before a Uefa executive committee meeting next week.
“I am candidate for president not for general secretary and I have support from all over the world and many more will come out … With a lot of respect for all the candidates of course, I am there to become Fifa president.”
20 January 2016. Lawyers for Sheikh Salman contacted us after publication. They say that Sheikh Salman had absolutely no involvement in the events of 2011. He is not a government official, has never played a role in governance of the country and, for the record and in light of recent recycling of historic allegations in the media, played no part in the detainment or mistreatment of any individuals.
