Amnesty ‘still waiting for Premier League to take action against sportswashing’

Amnesty International has renewed its call for the Premier League to consider human rights under its ownership test as Newcastle’s Saudi-backed owners prepare to celebrate six month at the helm.

Amanda Staveley’s consortium, which is 80 per cent backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, formally completed its takeover at St James’ Park on October 7 last year after the governing body accepted its reassurances over who would control the club.

The human rights campaigners accused the new owners of “sportswashing” as their buy-out was confirmed, and have since held talks with the Premier League to urge officials to tighten the regulations amid the repercussions of the sanctions imposed on Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

Amnesty International UK’s chief executive officer Sacha Deshmukh said: “The Saudi buy-out of Newcastle exposed the glaring inadequacies of English football’s ownership rules – with no bar for those complicit in acts of torture, slavery, human trafficking or even war crimes – yet it hasn’t led to the change we urgently need to see.

“The Saudi takeover at St James’ Park was a huge wake-up call to the Premier League over the need to introduce a human rights-compliant ownership test.

“Six months on from the Saudi deal, and with serious disarray at Chelsea, we’re still waiting for the Premier League to take action to stop English football being used for blatant sportswashing.”

When Saudi Arabia swooped in and bought Newcastle, it was one of the most glaring examples of modern sportswashing the world has ever seen.- Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK

Helen MacNamara, the Premier League’s chief policy and corporate affairs officer, addressed the issue when she appeared before the