{"id":298656,"date":"2023-11-25T15:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T15:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=298656"},"modified":"2023-11-25T15:26:48","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T15:26:48","slug":"banner-calling-for-uae-to-free-human-rights-activist-flown-over-etihad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/banner-calling-for-uae-to-free-human-rights-activist-flown-over-etihad\/","title":{"rendered":"Banner calling for UAE to free human rights activist flown over Etihad"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Banner calling for the UAE to free a human rights activist flown over the Etihad before Abu Dhabi-backed Man City&#8217;s top-table clash<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Activists previously targeted Newcastle&#8217;s Saudi Arabian owners last season\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Manchester City v Liverpool LIVE: Follow along with Mail Sport&#8217;s coverage HERE\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>City-Liverpool is tough to referee&#8230; but our campaign is up and running &#8211;\u00a0IAKO\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Amnesty International organised for a plane to be flown over the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon ahead of kick-off in the Premier League tie between Manchester City and Liverpool to draw attention to the plight of a human rights activist currently imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A banner reading &#8216;UAE &#8211; Free Ahmed Mansoor&#8217; trailed behind a low-flying aircraft as players walked out onto the pitch at the ground named for an Emirati airline in a bid to send a message to the club&#8217;s Abu Dhabi ownership.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mansoor &#8211; an Emirates-born blogger and activist &#8211; has been in solitary confinement for close to seven years after he was arrested in 2010 for using social media to &#8216;threaten public order&#8217; and handed a 10-year prison sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch has previously raised concerns over allegations of Mansoor undergoing torture whilst imprisoned, as has been claimed in the activist&#8217;s private letters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In October, Amnesty issued a rallying cry to call for Mansoor&#8217;s freedom &#8211; as well as other &#8216;dissidents&#8217; currently imprisoned under similar legislation &#8211; ahead of COP28.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/13\/78225585-12790161-image-m-62_1700919563865.jpg\" height=\"421\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A banner reading &#8216;UAE &#8211; Free Ahmed Mansoor&#8217; was flown over the Etihad before Saturday&#8217;s tie<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/13\/78225881-12790161-image-a-63_1700919595890.jpg\" height=\"401\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The packed stadium could have caught sight of the plane before kick-off between Man City and Liverpool at 12.30pm<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/14\/78225893-12790161-The_human_rights_activist_is_thought_to_have_been_held_in_solita-a-80_1700921122225.jpg\" height=\"459\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The human rights activist is thought to have been held in solitary confinement since 2017\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2023, the UAE was ranked 127th of 165 countries in the Cato Institute&#8217;s annual Human Freedom Index, which assesses human freedom of citizens across aspects of freedom of speech, assembly, and the legal system among other metrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since their 2008 takeover, Man City have been owned by the Abu Dhabi Group, and investment portfolio for the capital&#8217;s royal family, and headed by\u00a0Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE&#8217;s vice-president and deputy prime minister, as well as a minister of the Gulf state&#8217;s Presidential Court.<\/p>\n<p>During Saturday&#8217;s clash, the home crowd repeatedly sang the name &#8216;Sheikh Mansour&#8217; in honour of the man they see as largely responsible for ushering in Man City&#8217;s current era of glittering success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Etihad is far from the first English ground to be targeted by those seeking to raise awareness for victims of alleged human rights abuses, with St James&#8217; Park the stage for a protest aimed at Newcastle&#8217;s Saudi-backed ownership during last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A banner which read &#8216;Free All Saudi Prisoners&#8217; flew over the Tyneside ground during last term&#8217;s Premier League clash with Arsenal, organised by\u00a0the SANAD organisation \u2013 short for Standing Against Nefarious and Arbitrary Detentions.<\/p>\n<p>The body says it is a human rights organisation, which is officially registered in the UK, and seeks to \u2018defend political and civil rights in Saudi Arabia\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/13\/78225897-12790161-image-a-66_1700919683926.jpg\" height=\"408\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Man City&#8217;s 2008 takeover by the Abu Dhabi Group ushered in Emirati-backed ownership led by the investment group&#8217;s owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Al Nahyan<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/25\/13\/70694341-12790161-A_plane_carrying_the_banner_Free_All_Saudi_Prisoners_was_flown_o-a-59_1700919511395.jpg\" height=\"402\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A plane carrying the banner &#8216;Free All Saudi Prisoners&#8217; was flown over St James&#8217; Park at the tail-end of the 2022-23 season<\/p>\n<p>The SANAD Organisation says it \u2018monitors human rights violations and exposes them to human rights bodies and media, civil and political institutions around the world.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Alongside the banner at the Etihad, Amnesty published a post on X (formerly Twitter) with an associated call to arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post read:\u00a0Ahmed Mansoor is a loving husband, father to four sons, poet &amp; activist. He has been imprisoned for calling for human rights reform in the UAE and he has been held in solitary confinement ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Call on the UAE Embassy in the UK to Free Ahmed.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12790161\/Man-City-UAE-human-rights-banner-Liverpool.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Banner calling for the UAE to free a human rights activist flown over the Etihad before Abu Dhabi-backed Man City&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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