Dutch football assoc. asked to support campaign for activists arrested in Saudi Arabia

Amnesty International is starting a campaign from Tuesday for eleven activists who are being held in Saudi Arabia "for standing up for their own human rights or those of others." The campaign is in anticipation of Saudi Arabia's bid to host the World Cup of football in 2034. Amnesty is asking the Dutch Football Association, the KNVB, and professional football clubs in the Netherlands to support their message to the Saudi authorities to release the "prisoned eleven."

According to Amnesty, human rights in Saudi Arabia are in "historically bad shape" under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The organization said there are "record high death penalty rates": 764 people were executed between November 2018 and July 2024. Amnesty has also noted that the punishments for criticizing the Saudi authorities are increasing. The human rights organization thinks that Saudi Arabia is committing "sport washing" with their bid for the World Cup. "By organizing a prestigious sporting event, the country wants to cover up the fact that there is a lot wrong when it comes to human rights," Amnesty explained.

The Saudi Arabia bid, as it stands, would not meet the criteria set by the World Football Organization FIFA regarding human rights. Therefore, Amnesty International wants FIFA to cooperate with Saudi authorities to "fully address the human rights risks, with legally binding agreements, before a final decision is made in December." If this does not happen, then FIFA should be ready to reject Saudi Arabia's bid to host the World Cup, Amnesty thinks.

"It is up to FIFA to show that they are serious about their own human rights policy," Dagmar Oudshoorn, director of Amnesty International Netherlands, said. "The KNVB has said that respecting human rights is the bare minimum. We assume that Saudi Arabia is no exception to this for the KNVB. And are asking the association to make this bare minimum loud and clear to FIFA," Oudshoorn added.

In addition, Amnesty is also looking for support for the campaign in the Dutch football sector. In a letter sent on Tuesday, the human rights organization asked clubs for support for the imprisoned eleven. "The voice of the footballing world about this subject is important because this can be considered sports washing."

Amnesty is hoping that the clubs will speak out about the imprisoned activists. The letter will be sent to all the professional football clubs in the Netherlands and various supporters groups.