The sister of a taxi driver on Dying Row in Saudi Arabia is asking former England striker Alan Shearer to assist save her brother’s life.
Zeinab Abu al-Kheir wrote to the Match of the Day pundit after he mentioned he needed to ‘hearken to the proof about human rights abuses’ within the desert kingdom following the Saudi takeover of his former membership, Newcastle United.
She additionally requested seven-time system champion Lewis Hamilton to talk out in regards to the case when he races within the nation’s first ever Grand Prix on Sunday.
It’s seven years since Zeinab’s brother, Hussein, 56, was sentenced to dying after amphetamine capsules had been discovered hidden in his automobile as he crossed the border into Saudi Arabia from Jordan.
Zeinab Abu al-Kheir wrote to the Match of the Day pundit after he mentioned he needed to ‘hearken to the proof about human rights abuses’ within the desert kingdom following the Saudi takeover of his former membership, Newcastle United
The daddy-of-eight labored as a taxi driver for a Saudi businessman and human rights campaigners say the medicine had been planted in his automobile whereas it was parked outdoors his house in Jordan earlier than he left to go to work.
In her letter to Shearer, Zeinab wrote: ‘Officers tortured my brother for 12 days till he ‘confessed’.
They hung him from the ceiling by his ft, together with his head down, and beat him on his face, abdomen and arms. We may see the marks this torture left on his physique for a yr’.
Hussein was arrested on Could 18th 2014 at a border checkpojnt as he returned to Saudi Arabia the place he would work for a month at a time, with one week off again in Jordan.
The border authorities searched his automobile and located three luggage hidden within the petrol tank crammed with 290,000 amphetamine capsules.
The sister of a taxi driver on Dying Row in Saudi Arabia is asking former England striker Alan Shearer (pictured) to assist save her brother’s life
Zeinab, who lives in Canada, mentioned that since his dying sentence eight years in the past his physique has deteriorated a lot that the Hussein, now 56, is nearly blind and suffers from ache in his legs and abdomen ensuing from the torture.
When she noticed a current photograph of him he appeared extra like her father than her brother, she mentioned.
The household’s hopes had been buoyed final yr when it emerged Saudi Arabia is likely to be altering the legislation to finish the dying penalty for drug and different non-violent crimes.
It was thought the Saudi chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, needed to painting his nation in a extra average mild following the killing of the Washington Put up journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in one of many nation’s consulates.
However since then there was no information that Hussein’s dying sentence might be commuted, or any affirmation of a change in sentencing coverage.
Zeinab, who lives in Canada, mentioned that since his dying sentence eight years in the past his physique has deteriorated a lot that the Hussein, now 56, is nearly blind and suffers from ache in his legs and abdomen ensuing from the torture
Saudi Arabia has taken a agency curiosity in sports activities lately – together with the acquisition of Newcastle United and the internet hosting of the nation’s first Formulation 1 Grand Prix on Sunday
Zeinab informed Shearer: ‘The Saudi regime commits so many human rights abuses and the Newcastle takeover is simply one of many many ways in which the dominion is making an attempt to falsify and re-shape its picture.
‘Individuals like my brother haven’t got a PR company or a TV channel to inform their story, in order that they depend on folks with a platform and a voice to boost their circumstances: folks such as you.
‘As you say it’s actually vital that we do not ‘brush’ Saudi human rights abuses ‘beneath the carpet’ I urge you to boost Hussein’s case with the Saudi authorities – as a Newcastle FC legend your voice will probably be heard by the membership’s new house owners. It can save you his life’.
Based on the human rights charity, Reprieve, virtually half of all executions in 2019 had been for drug offences, largely involving foreigners.
The Saudi-led takeover at Newcastle United has been branded as a software for ‘sportswashing’ by human rights teams reminiscent of Reprieve
Jeed Basyouni, head of Reprieve’s Center East Division, mentioned: ‘There is no query that Saudi Arabia’s rulers hope shopping for Newcastle FC will assist them sportswash human rights abuses, nevertheless it does not must be this fashion.
‘The membership and the followers can demand higher from their new house owners – beginning with an finish to all dying sentences and executions for non-violent crimes.
‘Hussein is a traditional case of an unwitting drug mule paying the penalty whereas the kingpins stroll free.
‘We’re speaking a couple of poor taxi driver with eight youngsters.
‘The concept he had the cash to purchase a big cargo of amphetamines or the underworld connections to promote them can be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.’