During Manchester City’s recent Premier League game against Liverpool, a banner was flown over the Etihad Stadium calling for the release of activist Ahmed Mansoor, who has been imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three years. The banner was organised by Amnesty International and read “UAE: Free Ahmed Mansoor.” Mansoor was jailed for ten years in 2018 for “defaming” the UAE. Amnesty International has been campaigning for his release and wrote to Manchester City Council earlier this month, urging them to publicly call for the release of Mansoor.
This is not the first time Mansoor has been arrested for his activism. In 2011, he was one of five activists arrested for calling for political and economic reform. After their arrest, the five were pardoned by the authorities. Four years later, Mansoor received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders for his work in raising concerns about arbitrary detention, torture, and degrading treatment in the UAE. He was seized by security agents in 2017 and imprisoned a year later for reportedly using social media sites to “publish false information that damages the country’s reputation” and to “spread hatred and sectarianism.”
The fact that City owner Sheikh Mansour is the UAE’s vice-president, deputy prime minister, and part of the Emirati royal family makes this banner and expressing anti-UAE sentiments particularly sensitive to the issue. Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said, “Today’s plane stunt is a way of saying: ‘Look up from the pitch and see the bigger picture – a huge injustice has occurred, and the owners of Manchester City are the ones who can right this wrong.'”
Manchester City has not released any statements or comments in response to the banner, and it is unclear what, if any, action the club may take regarding Mansoor’s imprisonment
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