Brother of man executed by Saudi Arabia says F1 legitimises ‘heinous crimes’
- Yasser al-Khayyat’s brother one of 81 men executed on single day
- ‘If you truly want to be an agent for change, end F1’s silence’
The brother of a man executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities last year has accused Formula One of being complicit in “heinous crimes” perpetrated by the state, which he insists is using F1 to sportswash an increasingly oppressive crackdown on dissent.
When F1 returns to the Jeddah circuit this weekend it will be just over a year since the Saudi state executed 81 men in one day, shortly before last year’s grand prix. Afterwards the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, reported the UN believed that, of the 81 convicted of “terror offences”, 41 were from the Shia minority who had taken part in anti-government protests, calling for greater political participation.
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